Photo: K. V. Srinivasan

CONGRATULATIONS: M. S. Ananth, Director, IIT-Madras (centre) gives a certificate to Vijayalakshmi Srivatsan, Principal, P. S. Senior Secondary School, (left) at the third annual function of the Kuruvila Jacob Memorial Educational Trust in Chennai on Thursday. Viji Santhanam, convener of the trust (right), is also seen.

CHENNAI: Seventy-five years ago, a 26-year-old became the headmaster of Madras Christian College High School. Over the next 30-odd years, the visionary headmaster, Kuruvila Jacob, steered his school and its boys towards excellence in education. Today, 75 years later, his vision is still bright and alive, its fire carried diligently by the boys he tutored.

Quality education

The Kuruvila Jacob Initiative for Promoting Excellence in School Education is the project started by a substantial body of former students from MCCHS who formed a committee to take forward his mission of providing quality affordable education to all. For the third successive year since the initiative was launched on the same day in August 2004, schools that had joined the quality education movement were recognised.

At a function held in Chennai on Thursday, 22 city-based schools and 63 teachers who were part of the Initiative were recognised, not only for their participation, but also for their diligence. IIT- Madras Director M.S. Ananth, an ex-student of MCCHS, gave away certificates to the teachers.

Transparency

Speaking on the occasion, he urged teachers to pay attention to the qualities of teaching and learning in addition to focussing on quality improvement. Quality assurance is necessary and schools too would have to go through the process that basically builds internal consistency and external transparency.

Senior advocate Sriram Panchu, an alumnus of Hyderabad Public School, another institution that Kuruvila Jacob headed, paid rich, heart-felt tributes to his teacher. Reminiscing about the headmaster who turned a school that was about to be de-recognised into a prestigious unit, Mr. Panchu said he had introduced `remedial education,' wherein teachers would have to identify children who were weak and instruct them after school hours.

Clusters formed

A. Senthil Kumaran, of the CII Institute of Quality - one of the collaborators on the Kuruvila Jacob Initiative for Promoting Excellence in School Education - said four clusters of schools had been formed. Teachers and students were provided training on the concept of quality, 5S, need for documentation and self-assessment. Through a process of sharing of ideas and experiences, and self-assessment, the schools had made significant progress towards reaching their self-appointed targets.

A second cluster of Corporation schools was formed last year, on request from officials who were impressed with the impact the Initiative had made on the first cluster of nine Corporation schools, he added.

Diploma programme

Viji Santhanam, chairman, Core Committee, Kuruvila Jacob Memorial Educational Trust, said during the academic year 2006-2007 the Initiative will launch a training programme on Education Leadership Programme, a one year open-learning post graduate diploma, based on courses conducted at the universities of Harvard and Washington. It is scheduled to start in October and 25 seats are available, of which 15 have already been taken by the Initiative's schools.

N. Murali, Managing Director, The Hindu , and convenor of the Trust thanked the gathering.

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