English Speech - Kamarajar

 

Kamarajar, the great visionary on education

A visionary is the one who is able to imagine how a country, society, industry, etc., will or should develop in the future and to plan in a suitable way. One such leader is perunthalaivar kamarajar..

He is a man of virtue who followed honesty in all walks of his life. His political career is absolutely blotless which has become an endangered trait in these days. During his tenure as a chief minister, the state of Tamilnadu witnessed growth and development far and wide in all fields thereby uplifting the lives of people especially the poor, downtrodden and marginalized. Among all the arena, the resurrection in the field of education is the hallmark of kamarajar’s rule. I take this wonderful opportunity to share the achievements of kamarajar who is a great visionary on education.

Kamarajar was very keen in promoting primary school education. He wanted education to reach the depressed communities which were earlier denied the benefits of education. During his tour of villages, he saw the children were in a state of poor health due to poverty involved in works instead of acquiring education. He realized that poverty remains a great obstacle in the path towards education. Consequently, he made primary education free. Kamaraj thought about a plan to draw the children to schools. Mid-day meals scheme was launched. The poor people may be motivated to send their children to schools at least for the reason that the children would be fed. Many state governments followed the mid-day scheme of Kamaraj in their respective states. The American government was very much impressed by the scheme and came forward to associate itself in the scheme. It sent milk power packets through their CARE programme. In 1951, there were 16, 037 primary schools in the state. This rose to 30,554 in 1966. The scheme had received wide support from the other state governments and from Nehru himself. When he realised that feeding school children would cost nearly Rs. 1 crore a year, he encouraged common people to donate rice and pulses towards the project. It was a stroke of genius to have made the Finance and Education Ministries to be under one single Minister, a senior minister C. Subramaniam. While the State’s budget hovered around Rs. 100 crore, nearly 30 per cent was allotted to education during his time.

Besides, free books, slates and dresses for the poor children attending school were distributed by government. The introduction of free uniforms scheme eradicated discrimination of school children on the basis of their being poor children. The scheme helped to break the caste barrier and led to a silent revolution. As a few insisted on the kula kalvi system of education which stands for caste-appropriate education, kamarajar sternly objected and opposed it. He had also ensured that villages with the population of 300 people should be provided with primary school. Kamaraj had declared in 1960 that poor children would get free educational up to the secondary school level. Poor students on admission to professional courses were given interest free educational loans repayable in installments later. During his period, the number of working days in schools was increased from 180 to 200 as unnecessary holidays were reduced.

Kamaraj’s reign saw the healthy growth of higher education, two physical education colleges, 10 teachers training colleges and 39 teacher training schools two medical colleges and two engineering colleges were started by him. The education was development of under Kamaraj rule. Kamaraj’s rule was lauded by one and all as the golden rule of Kamaraj. It is worth mentioning that during the British rule the education rate was only 7 per cent in Tamil nadu but after Kamaraj’s reforms it reached 37 per cent.

For great service to the nation, he was awarded India’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, posthumously in 1976, as he passed away on 2 October 1975 incidentally it was Gandhi Jayanti day. Undoubtedly, he is a great visionary who foresaw that only education could transform and enliven the society..

Having known the selfless life and great dreams of this stalwart, now it is our responsibility to contribute our part for the education to reach every nook and corner in our country.

Thank You!