A proud teacher

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: He definitely takes pride in being a teacher. And the profession is all the more satisfying for Venugopal P C, the Headmaster of Government UPS, Parackal, near Venjarammoodu, because he has received the State Teachers’ Award (in primary section) for 2011-12 while serving as the Headmaster of the school, which was started by his paternal grandfather. The icing on the cake is that his father Sadasivan Pillai also served as the Headmaster of the school. “It is indeed a big moment for me, especially because the school was started by my grandfather (Ramakurup). Parackal is the name of his house. My father has also served in the school as the Headmaster. Also, my siblings have studied here. I had my schooling here till  Class V,” says Venugopal, who entered government service in 1983, with his first posting in Wayanad. The school was started by Ramakurup in 1919 and it is among those schools which received educational grant in 1935 from the then rulers. “The unique aspect about the school is that my grandfather started it for the backward community. They would come for evening classes. That period was such that untouchability was at its peak. But my grandfather paid little heed to that and he would mingle with them freely, due to which he was not invited for weddings and other functions by other family members.” Post Independence, the school was surrendered to the then government. Till then, Ramakurup was the manager and Headmaster. “My father was the HM till 1980 and I have been serving in this school for the last three years.” And he is absolutely excited about the fact that the school is left untouched by division fall and similar problems which often plague government schools these days. “There are 422 students and 14 teachers. There is no compromise on quality in academics,” he stresses. It is heartening to note that the students here are exposed to historic facts, matters related to our traditional knowledge and heritage. The Heritage Club of the school has been lauded by the Archives Department, which even invited our students to visit the Archives Directorate. “The Directorate officials even complimented us saying, other than research students, our students were the first ones who were being allowed inside. Our students have brought out magazines on the sacred groves, traditional knowledge and many historical incidents, all of which have been handed over to the Archives Directorate.” The school even came second in the state in a contest related to archeological records conducted by the Archives Department.  Besides this school, Venugopal had his schooling at Pirappancode HS too. Interestingly, he has served at this school also. He has represented the state at national-level swimming championship in 1988 and has been the manager of the Thiruvananthapuram educational district aquatic team for eight years. At 52, Venugopal takes pride in the fact that the values he imbibed from his schooling could be passed on to the future generations. “I am also delighted by the fact that both my sons (Akhil, an engineering student, and Bikhil, who is in Class X), have studied in government schools. Also, instead of nursery schools, they have gone to the anganwadi.” His wife Kalakumari is a block member.