INDIA BEATS
Lone beacon
SWAHILYA
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An unassuming school in Tirunelveli has been quietly serving many villages for more than a century now.
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Shaping the future: The Pannai Venkataramaiyar High School.
THE Tamaraparani was once in spate. But children from Suthamalli, Pettai, Narasinganallur, Karunkadu, Tharuvai and Melathiruvenkata- nathapuram and many more villages in Tirunelveli were made of sterner stuff than to stay away from school. In keeping with their enthusiasm, a special ferry from the other bank of Gopalasamudram was arranged to take them to attend the Pannai Venkataramaiyar High School, the heavy downpour or floods notwithstanding.
This reminiscence is from former headmaster, G.H. Neelakantan of the century-old school. Originally started in 1903 as The School in Gopalasamudram village, it is one of the three oldest educational institutions in the Ambasamudram taluk of Tirunelveli.
A century of knowledge
With several prominent old students to boast of, the school recently had a quiet centenary celebrations last year. Students from Tharuvai, Suthamalli, Melacheval, Munneerpallam, Thirunankovil, Narasinganallur and Karungadu travel to the school, which offers education for the S.S.L.C. examinations. Earlier, students from villages in a 15-km radius, such as Pathai, Kozhimapuram, Kalakkad, Valliyoor, Singikulam and Samboorvadagarai used to study here.
According to the 2001 census, the 10,027-strong village had an average literacy of 71 per cent. This was higher than the national average of 59.5 per cent. Past students say that the school has a direct bearing on the 78 per cent literacy among men and 63 per cent among women in the village.
The illustrious alumni of the school include Padmashree awardee G.S. Venkataraman, who is noted for his discovery of blue-green algae, the younger botanists V. Mohan and G.N. Hariharan who have followed in his footsteps, K.R. Sundaram Iyer of Enfield and several IAS officials, including N.V. Sundararaman, retired as Additional Chief Secretary, Maharashtra, G.S. Srinivasan and K.E. Raman in BITS Pilani, were students of the school. The father of the erstwhile Chief Election Commissioner of India, T.S. Krishnamoorthy, was an old student and teacher at the school.
Recently, in 2003, one of the old students of the school, C. Shanmuganandham, received the National Best Teacher Award from the President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.
While S. Balanath, the Social Studies and English teacher speaks of the close-knit relationship that still exists between teachers and students, S. Krishnammal, the Principal, vouches that this is one place where appointments are made on merit with absolutely no monetary considerations taken into account.
Students ' recollections
A top executive from a public sector company recalls the days when he joined the school in Std. VIII after his father passed away. "I did not find it to be any different from the school in Ooty I had studied in till then. In one instance, knowing that I had to perform my father's death ceremony during exam time, a teacher supervised me alone at 6.30 a.m. and I left by 9.30 a.m. when the other students took their exam," he reminisced.
R. Sivaraman, a Chennai builder who has constructed eight big classrooms worth Rs. 25 lakhs as a token of gratitude for his school, says, "With no other school for around 50 villages those days, my family would not have sent me to study but for this school. It has made me what I am today."
Students recall the glorious times when G.N. Vishwanatha Iyer was the headmaster of the school and salvaged it from a financial crisis.
G.V. Krishnan, the great grandson of the founder, Pannai Venkatarama Iyer, is the secretary of the Gopalasamudram Kalvi Vriddhi Sangam, a registered organisation which welcomes donations from past students for developing the school. G.V. Nilakantan, an old student who has created a website on the village and the school, says that G.S. Ramachandran, a retired headmaster, takes lots of interest in the maintenance of the school and the village in general at present.
Not a smooth ride
The website mentions that the State Government bears the expenses for the salary of the Headmaster, teachers and some administrative staff. However, the Government has frozen the quantum of expenditure on this account. Further, whenever a teacher resigns or retires, the salary for the replacement of such teachers appointed to fill the vacancies is to be borne by the management. This poses a financial problem as the salary for some of the extra teaching staff, which is absolutely necessary, is to be borne by the management of the school. The expenditure involved in running a school, on infrastructure such as provision of additional benches or replacement of old benches, furniture, laboratory equipment, books for the library, materials for sports and extra curricular activities besides the upkeep of building and environment, has to be borne by the management. The school does not have even a single computer and the management is having a hard time maintaining the centenarian institution.
You can visit the website of the school here:
http://www.geocities.com/gopalasamudram_village/index.html
India Beats features stories of the unusual, the exotic and the extraordinary.
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