Newly formed team to revive century-old school

Tucked inside a narrow lane at Mangolai in Mylapore, Sree Karpagavalli Vidhyalaya Middle School would easily go unnoticed amidst a mushroom of institutions in the area. This year, a new school management is trying to make some noise for an institution that has imparted life skills to generations of students.

This Tamil medium government-aided school that is gearing up to celebrate its centenary year from the coming academic year is on a revival path.

Six young like-minded individuals, a majority off them from the neighbourhood, recently took over as the trustees of Chandra Ammal Educational and Charitable Trust, which runs this institution well-known among old timers as “Dhadi Vadyar School” as the founder K.V. Dharma Raja Iyer always spotted a long beard.

None of the trustees (R. Shivakumar, Harsha Vardhana R., U.R. Sriram Shankkar, Sripriya Anand, Yamuna Harsha Vardhana and Prabhu) are alumni of the school but come with varied experience and a common goal of keeping an institution going for what it gave the neighbourhood.

The school will celebrate its centenary year in the coming academic year

In this mission, the trustees have reached out to alumni and the community around to support them.

Poor enrolment rate is one of the big challenges the institution faces. From 700 students during its hey day, today the strength of the school has trickled down to a single digit number.

“We are trying to analyse the reason for this drastic decline. Is it because parents want English medium education or the Right to Education has made it possible for students to get admission in private schools?” asks R. Shivakumar, secretary, correspondent and trustee.

The team is trying to find a solution to improve the approach road to the school.

“The school is situated inside a slum called Mangolai where the approach road is so narrow that one can only come on a bicycle or a two-wheeler. We are planning to touch base with Kapaleeshwarar temple management, which owns the 3.5 ground land, to give an alternative exit for the school,” says Shivakumar, a healthcare professional.

Since the inception of the school in 1926, breakfast and lunch are served to the students funded by the management. The current team continues to follow that practice. A website to connect old students is on the cards.

To get more girl students to join the school, the team will be introducing the Central government’s Sukanya Samriddhi Scheme, where 50 girl students will get ₹ 10,000 on completing middle school.

The school has had different managements heading it and given the demand for quality education, the team has an arduous task in hand to revive its past glory.

“We have had talks with the PS School management to see like the past if our students on completing middle school will be given admission,” says Sridharan S, trustee and educationist who is guiding the new team to take over. Introducing English medium classes is also in discussion, he says.

Sriram Shankkar, trustee and a chartered accountant who has worked on various mergers and acquisitions, feels there is always continuity for an institution that has survived for 100 years.

“I see great value from a “social capital” point of view, and with this assignment we are looking at turning this school around,” says Sriram, whose strength includes fundraising and liaising with other stakeholders.

Maths as USP

Mathematics teaching was the USP of this school. Old students who graduated from the institution say they learnt to calculate without a calculator. The quality of students who left the school after Class V was so good that they automatically got admission into PS High School or Lady Sivaswami Ayyar Girls Higher Secondary School.

Prominent citizens who studied in the school include Late M.G.C. Leelavathi, niece of former Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran; Late Cho S. Ramaswamy, editor, Thuglak, and Sir Mohammed Usman’s grandsons.

Voices from active volunteers

My house was next to the school. As I was a naughty kid my parents admitted me here when I four years old itself. From 1955 to 59, my foundation was laid at this patshalla. I remember 20 marks was assigned for mental maths and so well was the foundation laid that one will be able to multiply fast without a calculator.

We just started the WhatsApp group with 23 old students. The plan is to multiply it in the coming months. We plan to find and include other students who graduated from this middle school. Once we have a good strength, we can brainstorm on how to contribute to the school.

K.R. Jambunathan, old student and long-time resident of Mylapore

The school was strict yet they showered so much affection on us. We could not enter the classroom with our slippers as it was considered a temple of learning. Those who could not recite the maths fraction would get rapped on their knuckles.

For the recent Mylapore Times festival, we had a model of a school where I spoke how “Dadhi Vadyar School” contributed to the neighbourhood.

As a resident of the neighbourhood for 70 years, I will be helping them connect with old students. We are planning to go on a door-to-door campaign in two to three slums around and get students.