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| Nalini Chandran, Director, Harisree Vidya Nidhi School, Thrissur |
At the age of 39, life had given two things to Nalini Chandran. One was the rudderless world of widowhood, and the second, the responsibility to bring up her 3 daughters. Military Engineer Chandran’s wife rose to the occasion and ventured forth to start a nursery school in her home at Thrissur with 6 children in 1978.
Harisree, the school, was the harbinger of things to come. Today, the Harisree Vidya Nidhi School, situated in her 37 cent land at Thrissur, has indeed come a long way and paved the way for its Director to win the Derozio Award for contribution to the field of education. And may be because of this institution-building achievement, more assignments have come her way. These include starting the Sandeepini School forThiruvambadi Devaswom and starting a State syllabus school at her ancestral home at Kannampara, Palakkad.
While the parents themselves approached her with the request to upgrade the nursery school, the growth of Harisree was the unfolding of her dream to teach children by leading them to the books. With parents forming a trust, the Vidya Nidhi school was built with the contribution of Rs.1000 from each person.
In this school, it is the parents who are interviewed at the time of admission of their wards. The application form for admission is issued just for a half-day session in February. The school teaches the syllabus formulated by Nalini upto 7th standard. It is only from class 8, that the students start following the proper ICSE syllabus.
Perhaps, because of her deep devotion to the practically wise Hanuman, she too is practical in her approach. “While there is need for a text book to teach children language, science and social studies, it is better to take them to the zoo to teach them about animals,” she says.
Courtesy:
Staff Reporter, Kanyaka, March 31, 2006
Contributed by: Administrator
