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Education is Barry Sirs area of special interest and passion; helping students who are fighting the odds (economic or otherwise) is his primary focus. As Secretary of The Telegraph Education Foundation, he, Biswanath Sir and their team at HRPL have identified and reached out to a few thousand students of West Bengal over the last decade. TTEF has provided financial assistance to school-going children of farmers, daily wage-labourers, cobblers, rickshaw pullers and other less-privileged students living below the poverty line. Every year, it salutes the efforts of differently-abled children who look lifes challenges in the eye, and win!
As the initiator and Convenor of The Telegraph School Awards for Excellence, an annual event since 1996, Barry Sir has initiated the effort to honour schools, students and teachers from the city and rural areas, from Bengali, English, Hindi and Urdu mediums, on the same stage. Highlighting the incredible efforts of unknown heroes and unheralded students and teachers from the remotest districts of West Bengal, alongside those from reputed institutions, has been a truly rewarding experience for him.
HRPL has succeeded in motivating schools to join the movement of reaching out, by providing scholarships to needy students of schools from far-flung districts and villages. Several schools, corporate houses and individuals have come forward to be a part of this movement.
Barry Sir is considered a close friend by many vernacular and English-medium schools, especially in west Bengal. This is because he has the time and the inclination to stand by them in good times and in bad. He serves on the Board of a few schools in Kolkata. These include The Frank Anthony Public School, The Park English School, St. Thomas' School, Kidderpore (till 2012). In 2010, he took over as the President of the Managing Committee of Svarna, a small school in south Kolkata that focuses on providing the opportunity of an English-medium education to children from less privileged backgrounds.
Motivating the youth through his quizzes and writing: During all the live quizzes and interactive sessions he conducts, be it at IIT Mumbai or IIM Bangalore and from Agartala to Ajmer, and Siliguri to Cochin, or on his TV programmes, he constantly reminds his young audience that there will come a time when they will need to give back to society. He also emphasises the need to improve their communication skills, develop their personalities and draw strength from their roots.
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