Tribute to gifted alumnus

Updated on: Monday, September 06, 2010

Around 30 members from the late President Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan's family, including his grandchildren, were present at the Tiruttani Panchayat Union primary school, where Dr. Radhakrishnan had his early schooling.

The school was rebuilt and rededicated to its most prestigious alumnus, in connection with Teachers Day, here on Sunday.

The initiative under the ‘schools into smiles' literacy project was launched by the Rotary International District 3230 in association with the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), the Namakku Naame Scheme and Madras Midtown Round Table 42. This project has been implemented at a total cost of Rs. 90 lakh.

The Tiruttani P.U. middle school has been renamed as the Dr. Radhakrishnan P.U middle school.

As part of the project, reverse osmosis units for providing clean drinking water, computers, new toilets, libraries, play equipment, new noon-meal kitchen, tables and benches, besides the 16 new fully furnished classrooms have been provided to the school, said Benjamin Cherian, founder and trustee of the project.

Corpus

Keshav Desiraju, the grandson of Dr. Radhakrishnan, announced that the members of the Radhakrishnan trust and family would donate Rs.10 lakh towards setting up a corpus for providing the Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Sarvepalli Sivakamu scholarships to meritorious students of the school for pursuing higher studies.

Unveiling the plaque, Editor-in-chief of The Hindu, N. Ram, stressed the significance of the lessons the students should imbibe from Dr. Radhakrishnan's life. “Given hard work, given talent and if you keep the doors wide open and nurture talent and nobility, nothing can stand in the path of achievement.”

He also appealed to those present to ensure that social opportunities were provided to all children in our society.

Tiruvallur Collector T.P. Rajesh said a new assessment would be initiated to monitor the overall performance of the students of the school on a continual basis.

State Project Director of SSA, R. Venkatesan, said it was the teachers who had made the scheme successful in Tamil Nadu.

Tribute to gifted alumnus

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