• Community

Community Services by Dr.Ishari K Ganesh

At Vels Group of Institutions, we believe in never forgetting our roots. We began as a single college in a rented building in Mylapore, Chennai with only 36 students and 10 teachers. Our Founder and Chairman, Dr. Ishari K. Ganesh grew up in a middle class family. He experienced first-hand the harsh reality of poverty and the transformative power of education. Though today, he is a successful businessman and Vels Group of Institutions has become a well-renowned name in education, entertainment, healthcare, hospitality, etc., we have not forgotten our humble beginnings. We believe in giving back to the society that nurtured and supported our growth..

We have established ourselves in the field of education with 28 years of experience, 36 educational institutions, 30,000 students and 6,000 trained teaching and non-teaching staff. We share Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam’s dream of transforming India into a knowledge-power. Through our philanthropy and dedicated service to improving literacy in the country, we have transformed the lives of more than 50,000 families.
Vels Group of Institutions started with the aim of making education more accessible to students across social and cultural backgrounds, especially first generation learners and students from underprivileged communities. We never forgot our raison d’etre and have tirelessly worked to help talented and meritorious students from financially struggling backgrounds.
The impressive administration and good governance of our honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji has also encouraged us to take up several initiatives in favor of educational empowerment, upliftment of the poor, youth empowerment, Swachh Bharat and affordable health care.

Education and Empowerment initiatives:

To this day, we have provided financial support to 8164 students to pursue their career of choice, empowering the lives of students and their family.

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This includes 7227 students pursuing their UG and PG programmes in engineering, pharmacy, arts, basic sciences, biosciences, law, languages, music and fine arts, visual communication and management studies. 634 students from socially and economically backward sections of society, received financial support to complete their secondary and higher secondary education in various institutions.
We are the first private educational institution to offer Maritime Engineering and Nautical Science courses in India. For our excellence in offering innovative and job oriented courses to the youth of India, the Honorable Governor of Tamil Nadu Shri. Banwarilal Purohit felicitated our founder, Dr. Ishari K Ganesh with the Maritime Skills Excellence Award in a National Conference organized by Tamil Nadu Economics Association.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, we stepped up to help pay for the education of the wards of frontline Covid warriors like policemen,nurses and sanitary workers. A total of 300 students received 100% tuition fee from us for the entire duration of their courses.

Youth Empowerment:

Vels Group of Institutions believe in the holistic development of the sports community. In pursuit of this goal, we have sponsored the education of student champions of various kinds of sports and games. As of date, we have sponsored secondary, higher secondary and university education of 303 students with a background in sports.

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Recognising our dedication to transforming the lives of sportsmen and sportswomen, our Chairman, Dr. Ishari K. Ganesh was chosen as the President of Taekwondo Federation of India and the President of Tamil Nadu State Taekwondo Association. He is also the Senior Vice President of Tamil Nadu State Olympic Association.
To honor our efforts in the area of youth empowerment and to use our expertise in the field of sports and games, the government of Tamil Nadu nominated Dr Ishari K Ganesh as a member of the Tamil Nadu Sports Advisory Committee (SDAT).

Upliftment of poor and socially backward people:

In respect of the art and artists who struggle without a regular income, we provide aged and poor drama artists with financial assistance every month. We started a 100 bedded multi-specialty Hospital in Thalambur, Chennai, in memory of our Chairman’s late father, Shri Isari Velan.

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The hospital strives to relieve the suffering and improve the quality of life for patients with advanced illness. We believe that Honesty, Hard Work and Dedication are essential factors for success. We are on a journey to make our nation a knowledge power. To realise that dream, we continue to financially support the education of thousands of students every year.

Women Empowerment:

An egalitarian approach to education has always been the motto at Vels Group of Institutions. As such, we are dedicated to the cause of women empowerment. We have organized one-day markets for Women Self Help Groups and conducted annual training camps for them.

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We believe that with continuous effort, successful transformation is inevitable. To create an awareness on self-examination for early detection of breast cancer, we encouraged hundred professional stylists to braid the longest pink hair extensions to symbolise pink locks of hopes. This let the entire crew enter the Guinness Book of World Records and Unique Book of World Records in 2019.

Arts & Cultural Development:

At Vels Group of Institutions, we believe in holistic development, which includes spiritual and cultural development of individuals. So, we have several temples on our campuses to help students and staff find a moment of peace amidst their busy schedule.

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We have also launched several projects for the development of Tamil literature, art and culture. In honour of our services towards cultural development and youth empowerment, International Tamil Sangams in Dubai and Mauritius have, on various occasions, recognized us with many awards.
We believe that the future of our nation is in the hands of our youth. We provide students with various platforms to perform and showcase their talents. One fine example was when we motivated notable cultural artists and gathered thousands of Indian classical dancers in one venue to perform a synchronized Bharatanatyam routine. This resulted in 4525 students getting their names recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records in 2017.