The sixteenth annual function of the Kuruvila Jacob Initiative for promoting excellence in school education brought together teachers, principals and students of the educationalist.
Students of Jacob from the Madras Christian College High School and the Bombay Cathedral and John Connon School, Mumbai, reminisced about the educationalist and his vision.
“He was seen as the epitome of teaching and will continue to be a standing example of what Indian education needs and believes in, for the teacher fraternity of the country. We need educators like him to show students the way and inspire them,” said M.K. Narayanan, former Governor of West Bengal.
“He was a teacher from start to finish,” said N. Murali, one of the conveners of the initiative. “Some of his values and ideas were far ahead of his time and are more relevant today. The impact that he had on the lives of his students has been the greatest,” he added. Mr. Murali said the genesis of the initiative could be dated back to 2002, and credited I. Jayaraj, a trustee of the Kuruvila Jacob Memorial Education Trust, for playing an important part in bringing them together.
“We have a sense of satisfaction that the programme has reached around 3,000 educators and we have been able to take Mr. Jacob’s legacy forward. This is the least we could do in his memory and he will now be remembered not just by his students, but by several other teachers, schools and students,” he added.
Certificates were distributed to teachers and principals who had participated in programmes under the initiative. Since its inception in August 2004, until July 2019, over 2,900 teachers have participated in programmes under the Kuruvila Jacob Initiative. Resource partners such as V Excel, Strides Consulting Inc, CII Institute of Quality and Care Earth have, over the years, helped facilitate the programmes.
