Date:22/07/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/07/22/stories/2005072216280200.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Where the giants of Kannada literature learnt their first lessons

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: What do T.P. Kailasam, V. Sitaramaiah, D.V. Gundappa, Pu. Thi. Narasimhachar, novelist M. Narasimhaiah, and K.L. Nanjappa, have in common, apart from being giants of Kannada literature? And how do Sringeri Mutt's Bharathi Theertha Swamiji and politician V.S. Krishna Iyer fit into this illustrious set?

It turns out that they all have the same Alma Mater. The Government High School on Arcot Srinivasachar Road, Sultanpet, founded by educationist S.R. Nanjundaiah in 1902 (it became a high school only in 1983).

Despite such a hoary past, the school, located in the busiest and one of the oldest areas of the city, had gone to seed, and the lack of funds, and someone to nurture it, had begun to show. Till now, it has been making ends meet with donations from the alumni, the School Development Management Committee members, and philanthropists. There were not enough students, either, but now, the enrolment has begun to look up.

The Sultanpet school, the first school to be started by the Mysore State in Bangalore city, has got a new life.

Adhamya Chetana Foundation took up the renovation of the school in 1998. Bangalore South MP and former Union Minister H.N. Ananth Kumar allocated Rs. 5 lakhs under the MP's Local Area Development Scheme while the Building Materials and Technology Promotion Council, under the Union Urban Development Ministry, granted Rs. 8 lakhs. Private donors gave Rs. 2 lakhs, taking the nest egg to Rs. 15 lakhs, which was used to build six classrooms.

Most of the children studying in the school are from poor families.

Adhamya Chetana founder Tejaswini Ananth Kumar, who adopted the school, was present at Thursday's function, where many people who worked to rejuvenate the school, were honoured. These included Mallige Nursing Home's Sriramu, Nita Joshi who took free classes in English for students, and the former school headmistress Sowmya.

Mr. Ananth Kumar urged Primary Education Minister R. Ramalinga Reddy to complete the restoration work and celebrate the centenary of the school in a big way.