If talented Tumpa Kumari of this Ranchi school had wowed Bollywood with her rendition of Sun raha hai tu, her fellow students are also getting opportunities to prove themselves.

Ten girls of Brajkishore Netraheen Balika Vidyalaya, a free residential school for visually impaired girls in Bargain, Bariatu, have started earning while learning from Wednesday.

The school, in a tie-up with telecom major Vodafone, started its call centre operations to provide support to prepaid mobile customers.

The call centre - spread over 1,000sqft on the school's first floor, with 10 computers - was inaugurated by Mecon technical director S.S. Sengupta on Wednesday. All 10 visually impaired girls were at their workstations, familiarising themselves with the equipment, looking and sounding their professional best.

Calling it a new experience for all of them, Plus Two student Sarita Kumari (18) said softly: " Kabhi soch nahin sake thhe ki yahan call centre khulega humare liye. (Never thought a call centre will open for us here.)

Echoing Sarita, Vandana Mandi (17), said she had heard about call centres been operated by "normal" girls. "I still can't believe I am working in one," she said.

Apart from Sarita and Vandana, the eight others who had undergone a four-month training on call centre operations at the Pune-based Technical Training Institute (TTI), managed by Pune Blind Men's Association, are Sunita Tirkey, Deepika Kumari, Annu Kumari, Monika Minz, Pushpa Tirkey, Sheela Mahto, Devanti Kumari and Sita Kumari.

All are between 15 and 18 years old. Each had been trained for two years in computers in their institute.

Now, their work timings, six days a week, will be from 10am-2pm and after a break from 3pm-6pm.

Neelu Verma, Brajkishore Netraheen Balika Vidyalaya founder trustee, said they believed in social inclusion. "If the so-called normal educated girls can work in call centres, why not our girls? They also have the potential."

"The girls will earn Rs 400-Rs 500 per day depending upon their performance," said P.P. Verma, another founder trustee of the school.

Himanshu Roy, Vodafone assistant manager (training computer service), Bihar-Jharkhand, agreed these girls were capable.

"They are trained to handle pre-paid Vodafone customers whose SIM is inactive or facing network problems or those requesting affordable data packs," Roy said. The girls will also give offers on a daily basis, including on recharge packs and talk times.

Set up in 1988, Brajkishore Netraheen Balika Vidyalaya at present has 40 visually impaired poor students from adjoining rural areas of Ranchi district. They avail free food, lodging and schooling till Class XII. This charity school gets help from individual donors and assistance from Central Coalfields, CMPDI, Mecon and State Bank Of India.

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