How Ali Basha's Zenith Tuition Centre is building resilience in North Chennai's youth

At the age of 17, Ali Basha and his friend Chitra started tuition for children from vulnerable communities of North Chennai who faced the risk of dropping out of school due to poverty and unstable home environments.

Having discontinued his schooling because of his family's dire financial situation, Basha had a first-hand understanding of the impact of poor socio-economic conditions on early childhood experiences. And so, the duo decided to start informal after-school classes

These classes are designed to reinforce the children’s learning in core subjects like science and mathematics while exposing them to extracurricular activities like art, music, and photography—easily accessible to children in private schools.

In 1992, Basha’s efforts formalised into Zenith Tuition Centre in Tiruvottiyur, North Chennai. On the side, he ran a catering business to raise funds for and expand the centre's work.

At Zenith, children explored life skills, developed resilience, and enjoyed activities that spanned beyond traditional academics. Basha regularly took them to museums, galleries, and various community spaces to show them a world outside their constrained and often conflict-ridden home and school environments.

“My work has been to show them a glimpse into the world outside their homes and schools. I believe this is something that would have sustained my own interest in education as a young boy,” he tells SocialStory.

Children in government schools often face the risk of dropping out, driven by the emotional strain of socio-economic hardships.

While issues like poor infrastructure and staff shortages contribute to the problem, poverty and systemic neglect play a substantial role in disrupting their academic engagement.

A CDC report highlights that children in poverty are far more likely to suffer from mental health issues, including anxiety and developmental disorders, as their daily lives often lack stability and safety. The accumulation of stress, especially in early childhood, negatively affects their cognitive abilities, concentration, and drive for life, leaving more barriers to resilience and academic success than their counterparts in private schools.

A long fight for land and ecology

Over three decades, Basha’s Zenith Tuition Centre has helped thousands of at-risk children, guiding them toward a path of learning and personal growth within their individual and cultural contexts.

Some have become leaders who work towards breaking the cycle of poverty and exploitation caused by unchecked industrialisation that has affected their land and families over generations. 

Ennore, a coastal area in North Chennai, has been severely depleted owing to the concentration of major industries, including petrochemical plants, coal-fired power stations, and refineries, which frequently violate environmental standards without adequate regulatory enforcement. 

Significant among them have been protests against the Adani Group's proposed expansion of Kattupalli Port in North Chennai.

Years of violations have severely contaminated the Kosasthalaiyar River and Ennore Creek—essential water sources now plagued by ash and oil leaks—endangering native fish populations and making the water hazardous for residents. 

“This area, already vulnerable to erosion, would face intense loss of shorelines if expansion continues. It would also endanger marine and bird species that are unique to the region,” says artist Satwik Gade, who works with Basha.

Fisherfolk, whose livelihoods depend on these once-thriving waters, have suffered the most. Now unable to fish, many are taking up low-paying, non-traditional jobs, which have impacted their livelihoods and way of life.

Environmental activists like Basha have been educating and empowering residents, particularly from fishing communities in Ennore, Pulicat, and nearby villages, to recognise the adversities caused by these projects.

“Loss of traditional livelihoods and farming practices have cut the source of sustenance for local communities and displaced them," Gade adds.

Education for leadership

For years, Basha has dedicated himself to educating the community to recognise its rights and preserve their fragile ecosystems. He has built a network of educators and educational institutions to spread awareness on the dangers of unchecked industrialisation and trade expansion in peripheral Chennai—a region more neglected than the Greater Chennai Corporation regions like Ennore and Minjur.

“Large corporations often acquire land in ecologically sensitive areas by promising short-term economic benefits to local communities. These can range from monetary compensation to temporary employment. These offers, while initially appealing to people in vulnerable regions, often do not account for the lasting environmental and social costs they have to pay,” Basha explains.

In and around Ennore, Basha says, these benefits look like sports competitions and trophies, medical camps, jobs at the port, and new uniforms for children. 

“However, residents don’t see that the lands acquired in exchange for these short-term benefits undergo severe pollution, depletion and water contamination that can irreversibly damage the local ecosystem, leading to loss of biodiversity and livelihoods in agriculture and fishing,” he adds.

According to Basha, many generations of families—most of whom didn’t have the social and economic capital to fully understand the scale of this problem—succumbed to these buy-offs.

“Our goal now is to educate children by exposing them to talks by climate experts, arts education, and street theatre that explore these long-term ecological damages,” he adds.

In 2017, P Sandhya, 24, went to Zenith for a friend's graduation celebration and was captivated by the students' social and political awareness. "They spoke with clarity on the issues concerning them and their daily lives, and understood the larger contexts that perpetuated them," she says.

"In many ways, it sparked my own interest in social work," says Sandhya, who went on to enrol in the Master of Social Work at Dr Ambedkar Government Arts College in Chennai. She has also been involved in projects with climate action groups active in the region.

Over 30 years of industrialisation have changed the landscape of Ennore and Minjur. Despite the severe industrial pollution, people have continued to live, immigrate to, and settle in these regions due to its proximity to Chennai. 

“People live in difficult conditions because industries have taken away their agricultural land, and pollutants have left many of the remaining lands and waterbodies either barren or toxic. The industries also promise jobs to people that never materialise,” says Gade. 

He adds that a similar cycle is now repeating in Kattur, Somanjeri, and other nearby villages—about 30 kms north of Minjur—as part of the Peripheral Chennai Roadway expansion project.

Among the most visible impacts of unchecked industrialisation was the oil spill in Ennore that impacted local communities, bringing fishing activities to a near-complete halt.

Fishermen reported struggling with makeshift cleaning methods using plastic jugs to scoop oil out of contaminated waters, as they waited for more robust cleanup assistance from authorities. The spill not only contaminated fishing areas but also led to significant financial strain on these communities.

Basha encouraged his students to create artwork on this theme, later displayed at Ashvita—one of Chennai’s popular art galleries.

Art student M Rajesh, a resident of Thiruvottiyur, joined the Zenith Tuition Centre in 2018 when he was struggling to keep up with academics. Basha spotted Rajesh’s keen interest in art, which he encouraged at the centre.

Although Rajesh couldn’t join college after Class 12 owing to an arrear, he continued his art practice under Basha’s encouragement, and after a few attempts, he passed out of school. He's now in his third year of fine arts at the Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai, and has exhibited at art shows.

He hopes to set up his own studio one day.

“For communities like ours, education is often looked at as a one-stop solution,” says Rajesh, adding, “Education, when not rooted in our indigenous knowledge and cultural contexts as farming and fisher communities, is just a superficial solution to a much larger problem. What we need is the confidence to face the world and make something of ourselves.”

At present, Zenith Tuition Centre is raising funds for the Diwali celebration for its students and the renovation of a government school in Kattur.