MEA – a modest beginning

அறம் செய விரும்பு 

The Shimla school was wound up in course of time with the Reading Road (later Mandir Marg) school picking up enrollment as most of the South Indians were living in Karol Bagh, Gole Market & Paharganj areas.  We were running short of space, the Telugu section had to be shifted to the auditorium of The South India Club in front of the school.  We got into an agreement with the New Delhi Municipal Committee (NDMC) to use 5 – 6 classrooms from their facility adjoining our school that eased our space situation a little.  The primary school was soon upgraded to middle school, so the community had established their first ever minority school of their own, in the heart of the city, just a kilometre away from Connaught Place.  At this juncture in 1943, Shri. K. Suryanarayanan came from Madurai and took charge as Principal, raising it to a higher secondary school.  Gradually things fell in place and we sent our first batch of students for the Board examination in 1949.  Incidentally, Smt. Durgabai Deshmukh founded the Andhra Education Society and we transitioned the Telugu children into their own school. 

In the meantime, the South Indian government officials (the parents) managed to get a huge plot of land allotted to the MEA where a beautiful school building started coming up.  This was the magnificent Lodi Estate school.  The entire Reading Road school was shifted to the new premises in July 1956, when I joined the MEA.  However, the Reading Road school continued to function as a feeder school with classes 1 – 8 that catered to the needs of families living nearby.  The MEA also rented a residential building at Karol Bagh to run a branch school for the convenience of small children in the primary classes.  Everybody however, had to go to Lodi Estate school, irrespective of their residence, for higher secondary classes.  Students came from far flung areas like Kingsway Camp, Kashmere Gate, Daryaganj, Lajpat Nagar, Defence Colony, Kalkaji, Karol Bagh, Patel Nagar, Gole Market & Lodi Road areas.  In this city of long distances, transportation was a big problem, especially for the girl students.  So the MEA acquired a fleet of buses of their own proudly displaying “MEA Higher Secondary School, New Delhi” written on the sides.  The school timings were very convenient too (10 AM to 4 PM) that remained unchanged round the year.  That was also something unique to our schools.  The parents were indeed very happy with all these arrangements and so was I! 

The entire set-up of the Lodi Estate school looked so grand.  Primary classes had one section each, Middle classes had two sections each, and Higher secondary classes (IX, X and XI) had six sections each, four of which were science sections!  Total enrollments soon crossed 1,000 and there was paucity of classrooms again.  The primary children, being very young, had to be given good classrooms.  The final year students – six sections of class XI – could not be denied rooms either as they were at the verge of leaving school.  We had three science laboratories, one domestic science laboratory, one big hall for Engineering Drawing, one big room for Geography, and a library  The school office, Principal’s room and staff room accounted for three classrooms.  Of course, one room had to be a canteen inevitably.  As a result, we had to accommodate classes 6 – 10 in tents on the sides of the building.  It was a strange experience teaching high level mathematics for the senior classes in those tents, everything open & noisy all around, and a sight to see especially on rainy days!  Looking back it seems like both teachers and students had fun and no one minded the inconvenience despite the extreme weather conditions in Delhi.

The school was headed by Principal Shri. Suryanarayanan, who also taught Trigonometry for class XI, setting an example for others.  The staff members were drawn from various parts of the country who worked like a perfect team with absolute dedication and mutual admiration, something unbelievable these days.  It was a mini-India in action, where the teachers were learning and competing healthily with one another to improve the quality of classroom teaching.  I still remember the times when Principal Suryanarayanan used to request a 15-minute appointment with me (also teaching mathematics) to brainstorm teaching methods on some abstract topics.  I used to feel so honored.  The medium of instruction was strictly English, the students were bright by and large, with good communicative abilities.  Having come from a remote village myself at a young age of 22, all this was too good to be true!

I will be introducing some of the teachers of those early times in my subsequent articles, however, one teacher that created a record of sorts is Ms. M. Visalakshi, popularly known as “Chiththi Teacher”.  Very affectionate by nature and a young widow, Chiththi Teacher, joined the school at Shimla around the age of 18 years, then came over to MEA, Delhi and served over four decades, all along teaching only class 1 and none other, year after year.  The Delhi Government in recognition of her marathon service to class 1 children, conferred Best Teacher Award prior to her retirement in early 1970’s that included a citation, cash award and most surprisingly a 2-year extension of service which rarely happens.

A hallmark of our MEA school was that it was owned & run purely by the parents with no substantial financial support from any other source.  The parents were the consumers and they were also the managers (by election).  The Secretary of the MEA is like the CEO of a corporation.  A relationship of mutual respect existed between the staff and the parents that was the backbone of the institution.  This is something very unique to our schools that set us apart from other schools.  There was no Trust, no big financial backup from corporations, no capital whatsoever.  That is the reason why each of the existing seven schools started out in tents.  The community was most concerned with providing quality education as a matter of priority to their children and nothing would deter them from that focus.  The local government provided grant-in-aid that met 95% of teachers’ salaries and other running expenses of the school, however, we were not allowed to charge tuition fees up to class VIII, after which a nominal tuition fee could be charged, which too was adjusted against the grant.  All building costs were to be borne by the schools themselves.  It remains a wonder how the MEA / DTEA could gradually raise full-fledged buildings for their seven schools without any Capital!  Our real asset was the goodwill of the community.   To raise funds, the Management periodically organized drama festivals and dance / music concerts, inviting sponsorship and releasing souvenirs on such occasions.  I remember Smt. M.S. Subbulakshmi giving free concerts on several occasions.  In addition, the PTA of each school organized fund collection drives to meet the immediate needs of their respective schools.  In this context, I should acknowledge the benevolence shown by the Old Students’ Association in 1964, synchronizing with the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the MEA, when they donated the Science Block to the Lodi Estate school.

Above all, the MEA was fortunate to have luminaries as Presidents to guide their affairs from time to time.  Some of the illustrious personalities who gave leadership during the formative stages included Shri. V.P. Menon, Shri. R. Venkataraman, Dr. P. Subbarayan, Dr. K.S. Krishnan, Shri. C. R. Pattabhiraman, Shri. K. S. Ramaswamy, Dr. P.S. Lokanathan and Shri. C.S. Ramachandran I.C.S.  Many thanks to the concerted efforts of the entire South Indian community, we made a mark as the topmost school in New Delhi.

Staff members sitting Left to Right:

K.Ramasubramanian, K.V.Haraharakrishnan, S.Yegneswaran, V.Swaminatha Iyer, David Gnaniah, S.Natarajan, Jaya Venkataraman, Makhan Lal Jan, A.P.Narayanaswami Iyer, S.Ramakrishnan, Tej Kiran Jain

Standing Top Row – Third from Left is Tulsi Ram – Seniormost Class IV staff who joined the MEA from the days PHS Iyer started the school.

*************

More on the MEA / DTEA story to follow…

___________________________________________________________________________________