Even when he graced the post of Additional DPI, Gopalan used to work from 10am in the morning till 9 o'clock at night to solve the issues affecting teachers. For about 20 months, he even made contributions as the DPI.

Perhaps, the most significant contribution of Gopalan is the grading system for SSLC introduced during his tenure as Additional DPI. It was during the same period that a time bound dispute redressel mechanism for complaints in State School Youth Festivals was set up. In addition, he contributed significantly towards organising 'adalats' to streamline the appointment of teachers to aided schools in the State.