It is important for parents to identify which field their child is interested in and where his or her talent lies before putting them on the path of higher education, writer Perumal Murugan, whose book Pyre has made to the International Booker Prize list, said here on Wednesday.
While speaking at an event to commemorate Tamil scholar U. Ve. Swaminatha Iyer organised by Presidency College Alumni Association, he said the scholar’s father played a significant role in shaping him and took special care to identify his talent. Mr. Murugan spoke in detail about the extraordinary efforts of Iyer’s family to educate its ward. His father tried to teach him Sanskrit, Telugu, English and Mathematics only to find out that U. Ve. Swaminatha Iyer was not interested in learning any of these subjects or could not grasp the ideas, he said.
“At one point, his father was frustrated and became anxious. Finally, he discovered that his son was enthused to learn Tamil literature. Give him any piece of work or a book in Tamil and he would learn it effortlessly. Looking at this talent, he took tremendous effort to take him to different teachers in different locations,” he said.
Mr. Murugan said many parents do not think of which course their child was keen to take up or where their aptitude lies. “Our education system too offers seats based only on marks. Today’s parents want their child to become a doctor. If the child is unable to secure a seat, then they want him to be an engineer. Many think that these are the best options for higher education. But it is important to know what the student is passionate about and his skills,” he said.
S. Rajarajan, deputy president of Presidency College Alumni Association, Mei Roosevelt, president of the association, and R. Raman, principal of Presidency College, spoke.
