Thousands of people paid homage to the late Chief Minister K. Kamaraj on his 115th birth anniversary at Virudhunagar, his birthplace, on Saturday.
The visitors included many elderly people.
P.V.A. Venkatasamy, 92, who had come with the support of his son from Reddiapatti near Mandapasalai, said that he worked for the Congress under Kamaraj. “I joined the party in 1942. I had the opportunity to work under him on several occasions,” he said.
A group of children, dressed up as Kamaraj, took out a rally and garlanded the statue of Kamaraj at his mani mandapam near Kshatriya Vidya Sala Higher Secondary School.
They later took part in a function organised by Nadar Mahajana Sangam on the school premises.
Cash reward
Fifteen top scorers of Tamil-medium students from Class 10 and Plus Two from each district will get a cash reward named after Kamaraj, said School Education Minister K.A. Sengottaiyan. He said that Class 10 students will receive a reward of ₹ 10,000 while Plus Two students will receive ₹ 20,000. He highlighted that 960 high-scoring students from all the 32 districts in the State will benefit from the scheme, for which a budget of ₹ 1.45 crore would be allocated every year.
“Similarly, it was brought to my notice that some schools started when Kamaraj was the Chief Minister are facing issues in getting recognition. I assure that their grievances will be looked into swiftly,” he said.
Mr. Sengottaiyan said that the State government would analyse the possibility of installing Kamaraj’s statues in schools.
Stating that the present AIADMK (Amma) led government was implementing several new schemes towards school education, he said that the government would soon be unveiling plans to set up smart classrooms in 3,000 schools and computerisation of the classrooms in all the schools from Class 9 to Class 12.
Ministers ‘Kadambur’ C. Raju, K.T. Rajenthra Bhalaji and many MLAs and functionaries from AIADMK (Amma) party took part in the function.
Madurai
Best performing students and faculty members were felicitated by Madurai Kamaraj University Vice-Chancellor P.P. Chellathurai as part of Kamaraj’s birth anniversary celebration on the university premises.
Mr. Chellathurai highlighted that the university, for the first time, had announced awards for students and faculty of the university to mark the birth anniversary of Kamaraj, who made significant contribution to the growth of education in the State. Thirty-five university students from different departments who performed well in the 2016-17 academic year and faculty members, who mobilised maximum amount towards research from various organisations providing grants from January 2016 to 06 July 2017, were felicitated.
Registrar (in-charge) V. Chinniah, Controller of Examination (in-charge) S. Andiappan, Director of Distance Education (in-charge) V. Kalaiselvan, Advisor for university-industry collaboration A. Selvaraj took part in the function. Later, the Vice-Chancellor attended a function organised in Madurai Kamaraj University College in the city, in which Minister for Cooperation ‘Sellur’ K. Raju took part.
Students from several educational institutions participated in debates, essay competitions and skating in Madurai. Students of Capron Hall School, Dr. T. Thirugnanam Primary School, A. Sankara Narayana Nadar Matriculation School took part in the activities.
There were celebrations in all government schools in Kanniyakumari district also.
