GUILDERLAND — Forty-five local students have been attending Kumon.

Two months ago, Opie Venlagandula and his wife, Meera, opened the after-school program in Suite 104 at the 20 Mall. The grand opening is this Saturday.
"It’s not like a typical school classroom," said Venlagandula. "It’s highly individualized."
Students attend on Monday and Thursday afternoons and they are taught at their own pace, Venlagandula said. "We want to make sure that they are understanding," he said, before they move on to the next level in a subject.
Kumon is named after its founder, Toru Kumon, who started the program in Japan 50 years ago, said Venlagandula. "He was, himself, a parent and a teacher," he said.

Kumon taught his son and then started to use the same techniques for teaching other children, Venlagandula said; the Kumon program came to the United States a decade ago.

Having two children himself, Venlagandula, who has an engineering Ph.D. and works as an engineer during the day, will be teaching the program with his wife, who has a master of science degree.
"It is very important to provide a good education for young children," he said. "We want to be part of the community."

This will be the first Kumon center in Guilderland, and the only one that Venlagandula owns, but there are also centers in both Niskayuna and Clifton Park. It costs $35 to enroll a student and $80 per month; there are different class levels available for students from pre-school to high school, Venlagandula said.
Although he stressed the differences between the program and the classroom, he said, "It complements the school system."