Chennai: Two school teachers in Chennai -one a headmaster in a school at East Tambaram and the other a BT Assistant in P.S. High School at Mylapore - have been selected for the National Award 2015 by the Centre.
S.Gnanasekaran, a teacher who travels 90 km daily from Minnal, near Arakkonam, to Mylapore, hardly comes late for school. “I catch the first bus from my village which leaves at 5.40 am to Arakkonam. From there, I take the fast train to Mylapore. I will enter the school premises at 8.40 am daily,” he said.
He could not shift to the city as he was the sole breadwinner of his family. “My first salary was Rs 1,460. It was hard to survive with that amount in a city like Chennai,” he said.
Hailing from a weaver’s family he owns a house in his village. He says his mother, Valliammal, was the main reason for his higher studies. “She encouraged me to study and move up in life. When I informed her I got the national award, she was very happy. I dedicate my national award to her and my fellow teachers in our school,” he said.
He is teaching social science for the last 27 years in P.S. high school. He helped poor students and slow learners to score good marks. Besides teaching, he also created awareness among children on various issues, including child labour and AIDS. He received the State Best teacher award in 2012.
V.Raju, Headmaster, CSI Corley higher secondary school at East Tambaram, was famous in Chengalpet as a Chemistry teacher. He worked in St. Columbus higher secondary school there 26 years.
“With my simple ways of teaching, I attracted students towards Chemistry. They started liking equations and many of them had entered professional courses later,” he said.
He joined CSI Corley higher secondary school as Headmaster in 2006. “When I joined the school, the pass percentages in Classes X and XII were 56% and 59% respectively. After years of hard work, the school recorded 99% pass percentage in board exams.”
He also developed infrastructure in the school by installing RO plant and building basketball ground. He received many awards, including State’s Best NSS programme officer in 2003 and State Best teacher award in 2013.
