Students honour their nonagenarian mentor

Rajeswari Murthy, first principal of SPW College, served cause of women’s education

K. Rajeswari Murthy

When college education for girls was considered taboo, she inspired and enrolled many in the small conservative town of Tirupati in the mid-1950s. From music to medicine, management to banking and education to entrepreneurship, her ‘products’ have conquered the world by holding enviable positions in diverse sectors.

Her students gathered here on Wednesday to felicitate mentor K. Rajeswari Murthy (94), the first principal of the TTD-run Sri Padmavathi Women's College, Tirupati.

The Sri Venkateswara Women's College, as it was known, had at inception a mere eight faculty members and 30 students, sans a library, science laboratory and playground. There was not even a prospectus to highlight its courses.

Dr. Murthy, who was then teaching mathematics at the Madras Presidency College, took over its reins at the behest of the TTD Executive Officer C. Anna Rao. “My husband Dr. K. Suryanarayana Murthy was teaching at the Madras Medical College and my father was a headmaster at Tiruvallur. My migration from the metropolitan Madras to the small town for a lone stay was really tough,” Dr. Murthy vividly recalls.

Many firsts

In an exclusive interview to

The Hindu , she explained how she had to start the transformation from scratch. She was the first in the country to introduce population studies as an undergraduate course, first in the State to launch Home Science and introduce the concept of ‘Earn while you learn’ in the college. “We owe our everything to her,” said noted classical singer ‘Padma Sree’ Sobha Raj, an expert on Annamacharya compositions. “But for her effort, I would have discontinued education with SSLC,” added Vimala Gopalan, who retired as SBI Chief Manager at Chennai.

“Her stint during 1954-75 makes her the longest serving principal of our college,” observed Kamala Menon, Dr. Murthy's successor as the principal.