When Vishi and I visited the Vocational Training Institute situated within the premises of K J Somaiya for the first time, we were amazed to see the arrangements, the highly equipped laboratories and fully packed classes. Arjun, our third member, was in one of the classes calling out the names of the students who were supposed to go for the bank visit. Meanwhile, we took a stroll in the corridor of the institute and the memories of my engineering college came afresh. The electrical lab with the bread-boards and the circuits, the notice boards outside every classroom filled with notices and circulars etc and the teachers teaching the students about various courses all were exactly as we used to have in our engineering colleges.
Vocational Training Institute is a platform for students to learn basic skills for earning their livelihood. The students may take up the jobs of plumbers, electricians, repairing of various appliances or even opening their own garage for automobile repairing etc. The main idea to take them to the bank was keeping in mind their future necessity and for their self benefit. They should have an idea of keeping account of their money safely and should not become victims of treachery of any sort.
After gathering all the students who were supposed to be taken for the bank visit, we took permission from the Headmaster of the institute. Before we could proceed, we numbered the students from 1 to 5 in the group of three headed by each one of us, i.e. Arjun, Vishi and me. We gave a brief introduction to the students about where are we going and what we will be telling them along with the instructions of maintaining silence and asking whatever questions they want to without any hesitation.
We then started our walk towards the Bank of India which was at a 15 minutes walking distance from our college. As we reached there, we made all the students to stop outside the bank and counted their strength to ensure that all had reached. Arjun and Vishi took the lead and went inside the bank with 5 students initially, after the bank manager gave his permission to bring the students in. Meanwhile, outside, I gave them a brief introduction about how a bank and ATM looks like. What is ATM card and what all it is composed of. There is a magnetic strip at the back of the card and that should not be kept near to any magnet. Also, they were amazed to know the difference between the debit and the credit card. The few interesting questions which were on the minds of everyone were:-
Q.1 “What is full form of ATM?”
Q.2 “Can we open a bank account? What is the minimum money required to open a bank account?”
Q.3 “Can I deposit the money in this bank and remove it from some other place or some other bank?”
Some of the students had in fact visited the banks before and one of them had ATM card also. Looking at their curiosity and hunger for more and more information, we decided to request the bank manager to address them.
Mr. R. Govindarajan, the Chief Manager was very kind to accept this and he called everyone inside and made them comfortably seated on the couch there. He himself spared his time and along with one other colleague, he briefed all the students about the verticals of the bank operations. Starting from the opening of a bank account, he showed the forms that need to be filled, the minimum money required to open an account and the documents required for verification for nearly all the operations. He went ahead in a very slow pace and told the students about the internet banking, the mobile banking and thus demonstrated that the bank operations can be done without physically coming to the banks as well. After all this, he told the students about the DMAT accounts and how the shares can be bought and sold through internet or mobile.
He also requested his colleague to show the students the existing user’s online profile where his picture, his address and bank account number etc were getting displayed on their bank computer. All the students were thrilled to see it and liked it a lot.
Not only did Mr. R. Govindarajan demonstrate these processes in detail that too from the perspective of making a beginner understand, but he also addressed the various queries of the students’ patiently.
We thanked the manager for his time and support of this noble cause and had lots of good memories to take away. Overall, it was a very good exposure for the students. They got a lot of information about the bank operations. Some of their myths were broken and they also gained confidence to enter the bank and talk to the senior-most person i.e. the branch manager himself. I am sure that from now onwards, they will not hesitate in entering any bank and will be having at least a vague idea of the procedures involved for doing basic operations. When we sat down and started our lunch, all of us had a faint smile on our faces and that showed the joy which we got by this activity.
We look forward for many more of such enriching experiences and many more friends to join us for similar endeavours.
