LIGHTING UP LIVES:

A young girl stepped out of Kerala and came to Jamshedpur in 1974 after her marriage. 1981 saw her start her career as a librarian in a school. After completing B.Ed. in 1986, she joined Kerala Samajam Model School (KSMS) as an assistant teacher. While working in KSMS she completed M.A. and M.Ed. in 1992 and 1995 respectively. During this period, she got a series of promotions and became the Principal of KSMS in 1991 - a position she occupied till June 2000. she then resigned from KSMS, to move on to be the Director of Kerala Public Schools. She today steers the KPS TRUST as the Vice Chairperson

Mrs Vijayam Kartha the Vice Chairperson, Kerala Public School Trust, Jamshedpur and the Director, Kerala Samajam Hindi School, is also the Founder Convener of Teachers’ Network, ‘Disha’ a forum for teachers to come together and share .As the Founder Secretary of Eco Task Force,a Planning Body for Environmental Conservation she brought in the desired awareness towards environment by initiating projects in adopted villages. She reached out to the city based schools as the Founder Convener of Eco Clubs of City-based Schools . Her reaching out to the working mothers of the city saw her as the Founder Coordinator of ‘Ankur’ a Day Care Centre for Children.She is closely associated and a firm propagator of Moral Rearmament Movement a forum for the youth . Her rural commitment knows no bounds .

Some Remarkable Awards

a) National Award to Teachers’ received from the President of India.
b) Most Outstanding Women Social Worker Award for 2009 from FLO
c) Sarvothama Acharya Award in 1999 from Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan, N. Delhi
d) Best Teacher’s award from Lions club Jamshedpur for the year 1992
e) Award for Excellence in Vocational Education from Rotary Club of Jamshedpur in the year 2002

TETE - a- TETE with Mrs Vijayam Kartha

(Vice Chairperson ,KPS TRUST)

What are the responsibilities involved in your role as the Vice Chairperson of Kerala Public Schools?

KPS has over 7000 students in the six English Medium Schools in Jamshedpur. We also run four absolutely free Hindi Medium Schools for slum children in these school premises in the afternoons. The effort is to provide holistic education and development of a strong character rather than pure academic qualifications. To develop social awareness our schools have undertaken some village development programmes.

Why include village development programmes when the students and teachers complain about the already existing academic burden?

I feel that no syllabus is good enough if there is no scope in it to inculcate the right values in students. We all agree that the root cause of most of the evils plaguing our country is the lack of values. We complain about the 'big bad world outside' and refuse to accept that we have created it. The ultimate aim of education should be to bring up happy, successful and compassionate individuals who have a lot of care and concern for the entire world. Today's average urban child is cut off from the realities of the life and is ignorant of his/her social responsibilities. Through our village development programmes, we try to sensetize our students to the realities of life. Our senior students go to the village from time to time and do 'shramdan'. The presence of the slum children in our campus helps them to look at life from close quarters and understand the sufferings of fellow human beings.

How has your family supported you?

There won't be any Vijayam minus family I belong to. I consider it my great fortune to have a loving and supportive family and friends. I was a very shy and timid person to start with. It was the encouragement from my family and friends, which has helped me to come out of my shell. They rejoice in the smallest of my achievements and, therefore, add meaning and beauty to my life.

Can you recollect any incident, which has touched your life as a teacher deeply?

Some time back, I was in my office when a young man of 21 walked in. He said, "Mam, I hope you remember me..." I recognised him and before he could continue, I held his hand and said, "You are Sreekumar, who was in class 4B in 1986, who used to sit in the second bench next to the window..." I saw tears in his eyes. I could still remember him as a little boy whose mother was not keeping well. His father had taken him back to his native place after his mother had expired. We were meeting after fifteen years but the same affection for him was surging in my heart. He told me that all these fifteen years he remembered me and wanted to see me. In the evening, there was a phone call. "Mam, the love which I have not received for last fifteen years, I got in those fifteen minutes. Thank you." He keeps in touch regularly. One day he called me up and after exchanging pleasantries, he told me shyly "Mam, I called you up because it is Mother's Day today." I was overwhelmed with joy and thanked Lord for giving me so much of affection and love. This, wealth of affection and unconditional love that I earn will remain in my heart forever.