KASARGOD: On the final days of his teaching career, P T Benny, the headmaster of Chemnad West Government Upper Primary School, walked in expecting a regular farewell function. But the students and local residents turned it into an extraordinary occasion for him.
They held the farewell over two days, and on his final day, May 31, they took him to a Maruti Suzuki showroom where a brand new car worth Rs 13 lakh was handed over to him. It was the parting gift of the students and villagers for their favourite teacher who turned the face of the school for good.
“He was the best headmaster our 127-year-old school ever had,” said Ameer Paloth, the parent-teacher association president and former Chemnad panchayat member.
The school had a lot of issues with infrastructure and there were plenty of things to do.
“Not many could have pulled it through like he did,” Paloth pointed out.
When Benny arrived, the school was struggling without adequate space. In fact, Chemnad residents brought him to their school after he had earned a name for turning around the fortunes of schools. He arrived as the headmaster in-charge in 2019 and was later promoted to headmaster.
The school was established on 34 cents donated by the Chemnad Jamaat Committee in 1899. Due to a lack of space, the school was using the madrassa building for six classrooms, against a requirement of 11 more classrooms. It had only three regular teachers while it needed 20, managing with daily wage teachers.
For the next six years, Benny toiled with the villagers and the PTA to turn things around. He managed to get 25 regular teachers. The school also started performing better academically in the following years. It recorded the highest number of scholarship winners in the LSS (Lower Secondary Scholarship) and USS (Upper Secondary Scholarship) examinations. It also secured the 11th spot in the Haritha Vidyalayam show.
Enrolment at the school started improving after the Covid pandemic, with the total strength rising to 850 from 550. However, infrastructure still remained a problem.
The government approved funds for a new school building, but there was no land. The Jamaat Committee, which had donated the land to establish the school in 1899, formed a land purchase committee. While Benny served as the treasurer, former Kasaragod MLA C T Ahmed Ali chaired the committee. The panchayat granted Rs 13 lakh for the purchase of land but the land value in the panchayat had reached Rs 4 lakh per cent as it is close to Kasaragod town.
The villagers raised the funds required, including from donors in Dubai. Having purchased 10 cents adjacent to the school with the money raised, they managed to construct 11 new classrooms, two laboratories, a multipurpose hall, and other amenities. The school got a proper U-shaped block allowing more space for the children. “We could materialise all these because our headmaster was with us,” Paloth said.
Sometimes, Benny contributed more than expected, villagers pointed out. School management committee chairman Nazar Kurickal, who is also a former PTA president, said Benny would not wait for funds to arrive but set things off. He would spend from his pocket.
In that backdrop, the villagers and students decided to pool money, ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000. Local residents, parents, and alumni contributed willingly. When the school’s 127th anniversary celebration was held, they booked a Maruti Suzuki Brezza CNG variant.
And on Benny’s final day with the school, they ensured the car was ready.