The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : “Schools should serve society”

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 26, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

“Schools should serve society”

Special Correspondent

AVM Matriculation Higher Secondary School celebrates silver jubilee

— Photo: K. Pichumani

Stellar show: Students perform at a cultural show organised as part of the silver jubilee celebrations of the A.V. Meiyappan Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Chennai on Friday.

CHENNAI: N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief, The Hindu, on Friday said an educational institution’s pursuit of excellence should be matched by a commitment to make education accessible to students across social strata.

Addressing the silver jubilee celebrations of the A.V. Meiyappan Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Virugambakkam, Mr. Ram said while “systems and standards are important, schools have to open the gates wide and serve society.”

Pointing out that it was easy for schools to make money by turning elitist, they would be failing in their social objective if they did not provide opportunities to a broad segment of society.

He commended the A.V. Meiyappan School for maintaining a “social mix” in its pursuit of quality — objectives that were sometimes in conflict with each other.

Apart from setting standards and providing access, the other fundamentals of a good school were the competency and talent of its faculty and non-teaching staff, the calibre and hard work of its students and their parents’ appreciation of the value of good education. It was also commendable that parents, especially mothers, who themselves were denied higher education, insisted on providing their children with quality education, he said.

Mr. Ram pointed out that even a school that met all these requirements could still fail if it lacked adequate space and infrastructure, foresight or a lofty founding philosophy.

The significance of an institution like the A.V. Meiyappan School, “founded on a philanthropic spirit and tremendous commitment” had to be seen in the context of the widespread illiteracy prevailing in India.

Stating that India’s aspiration to become a knowledge society had many gaps in terms of providing education to its entire population, Mr. Ram said a knowledge society was one that empowered and enriched its people, used intellectual and professional advancement for local transformation, laid out an environment for ideas and innovation and helped people achieve their potential.

“In the Indian context, getting the right education is the most important thing,” Mr. Ram said.

He complimented the school president M. Saravanan, who founded and named the institution in memory of his father — a well-known philanthropist and film personality — and his team for “getting the framework absolutely right”.

Prizes presented

Mr. Ram presented prizes to meritorious students in the higher secondary and tenth class categories. Among the recipients were Ashwini. K, Plus Two topper (Sri Thiagaraja Iyer memorial charitable Trust trophy), Mithuna A.V., Class X topper (Vasanthi Memorial trophy), Katyayani Prabhu (Latha Srinivasan memorial trophy for topping in commerce and accountancy) and Monisha G. (K. L. Ramanathan memorial trophy for topping in science-matriculation segment) and students who scored centums in various subjects.

School correspondent Nithya Guhan and principal Amrithavalli spoke.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu