I refer to the report 'Thousands attend education pilgrimage', (Aug 5). The event, 'Kalvi Yathirai' organised by Sri Murugan Centre (SMC) with the help of a sponsor, managed to group around one million people every year without fail. Well done to the organisers! In years to come this event may overshadow Thaipusam as the main cultural and religious events for the Hindus.

I personally don't think that the god will help the students to pass the exams. No amount of prayers will help the students to do well in exams unless they study hard. God will not help those who don't help themselves. Look at other races, they do not need the help of god to achieve academic excellence; only hard work coupled with diligence will ensure good examination results.

Therefore, is it necessary to group about one million students and parents conducting prayers to enable the students to do well in their exams? Many of my relatives and family members (students) who went for this occasion confessed that they went there just to have fun with their friends. To outstation students who were not accompanied by parents, this event is almost like school holiday trip.

Some students who went for the event said that they do feel motivated after all the courses but the so-called motivation dies down after a week or two.

The SMC mentioned that previously 80 percent of the students who sat for UPSR, PMR, SPM and STPM had passed. This figure is what has been said and repeated for many years and yet no official figures has been released on the performance of Indian students who benefitted from SMC's classes and also the 'Kalvi Yathirai'.

End of the day, the sponsor and some selfish leaders are the ones who benefits most. The sponsors and also traders managed to advertise themselves in a most convincing way (by using religion) to millions of Indians in such a brief period. We should congratulate them for their smart business strategy and it also augurs well for Indian businessmen.

If there is really a need for special prayers for students who are taking exams, I would suggest that it is done on a smaller scale, in towns, estates and villages. Then the smaller number of students will be more focused, the parents do not have to fork out a lot of money and others like the sponsors will not be able to take advantage of the situation.

I also doubt if there are any organisation or company around the world who specialises in motivational or confidence building courses who can organise similar events for about 400,000 people at the same time. Most of the experts in this field prefer smaller groups so that personal attention could be given to each participants.

The Sri Murugan Centre (SMC), I believe is already doing a good job in giving tuition to students. This is enough and they can do more by expanding their classes to other areas.

The money spent to send the children to this educational pilgrimage could be better spent for buying some examination guides or other relevant books or notes.

I did write to Hindu Sangam on relevance and necessity of this event recently but have yet to get a reply.