Like many of those who make them, R. Panchapakesan seems to know that his New Year resolution will be forgotten soon. “I want to work less and sleep more this year, but I know it won’t happen,” he chuckles. As secretary and managing trustee of the Padmabhushan Sri N. Ramaswami Ayyar Education Complex, Mr. Panchapakesan knows that rest is a luxury for someone who has spent 49 years in the field of women’s education.
“When my father N. Ramaswami Ayyar started Savitri Vidyasala Hindu Girls Higher Secondary School in 1938, education was the prerogative of boys,” recalls Mr. Panchapakesan. “So Father had not only to find the money to put up the buildings and pay the staff salaries, but he also had to go and fight with the people to send their daughters to school.”
While those social norms may have changed, and several taboos (like making girls skip school when they had their periods) shown the door, the trajectory of empowering women has been relentlessly upward in this group of institutions.
Savitri Vidyasala was the first pillar of the educational complex that now includes Seethalakshmi Ramaswami College (established in 1951), Kamakoti Vidyalaya (1973) and Padmabhushan Sri N. Ramaswami Ayyar Memorial Polytechnic College for Girls (1981), in a 30-acre campus on Sankaran Pillai Road near Chathiram Bus Stand in Tiruchi. Some 10,000 pupils, from primary school to post-graduate level, study here everyday.
‘Fifth child’
N. Ramaswami Ayyar (born in 1896) was inspired by Maharashtrian social reformer Dr. Dhondo Keshav Karve (popularly known as Maharishi Karve), to promote the education of the girl child, even if it entailed many personal sacrifices. “Of the 30 acres in this campus, 13 belonged to our family. Father used to say ‘this is my fifth child, so she is entitled to the maximum property, because all of you are well-off,’” says Mr. Panchapakesan.
Born in 1936 as the youngest of three sons, Mr. Panchapakesan says he can only imagine the kind of odds and financial troubles his father faced initially while setting up the institutions. “Kamakoti Vidyalaya – the first school in Tiruchi affliated to the Indian School Certificate Examinations (ICSE board) – was started in what used to be my father’s garden. A lot of people helped with their personal donations. At that time, a thousand rupees was a great amount,” he says.
Nor did he know that he would play a significant part in fulfilling his father’s ambitions.
With a degree in Geology and Law, Mr. Panchapakesan started his career in Orissa Cements, Rajganpur, and was working in Chennai in 1967, when “my father called me up one fine day and said ‘I have been bleeding through my nose since morning, so please quit your job and come to Tiruchi to take care of us and the institutions.’ So that’s how I came here,” he recalls.
“I don’t think I ever picked up an argument with my father,” laughs Mr. Panchapakesan when asked about their professional relationship which lasted from 1967 until Mr. Ramaswami’s demise in 1976. “He was a strong-willed man who wouldn’t have listened to my arguments anyway. But I learned all the nuances of running a college and specially in getting along with the authorities, both revenue and education, from him,” he says.
Changing attitudes
As the days go by, Mr. Panchapakesan has seen an erosion in parental control over their children. “As long as the parent says something which is palatable to the children, they agree,” he says. “But parents these days also have no time to concentrate on the children, because usually they are both working.”
The flip side, he says, is that children no longer have to be force-fed their parents' dreams. “Nowadays the children choose what they want to study. That is good, because if you are not inclined towards a particular subject, there is no point in getting pushed to study it,” says Mr. Panchapakesan.
While keeping up with the constant modernisation of pedagogy, Mr. Panchapakesan has also retained some old-school social values. More than a decade ago, he started offering free lunch to impoverished students who were attending classes hungry. “It’s a small thing, but it gives me great satisfaction,” he says.
Strong foundation
The success of the institutions owes much to the strong religious and ethical values espoused by the founder, says Mr. Panchapakesan. “I was able to build a superstructure only because of the solid foundation that was laid by my father. I was also helped by a dedicated band of academic and support staff and of course, generations of good students,” he says.
The family has continued to play a key role in the complex. Mr. Panchapakesan’s elder brothers (Late) Madhu Ramaswami and (Late) R. Natarajan served as presidents, while his wife Mrs. Vasantha is the co-ordinator. The couple’s sons Ramani and Kanna are directors.
And while Mr. Panchapakesan may not always be able to remember his alumnae, they always seem to seek him out in a crowd, he says. “So many times, in the most unexpected places, former students have come up to speak to me about their days on our campus. It’s always exciting to see them excel in the real world.” Among these achievers is Nirmala Sitharaman, presently the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry (Independent Charge), who graduated from Seethalakshmi Ramaswami College.
He hopes one of his two sons will take charge of the institutions soon, as he talks about his advancing years. As for the future, Mr. Panchapakesan has nothing lined up for now. “I’m quite content with what I have done,” he says. “I can stand before my father and say that I have not let him down.”
