Coimbatore is known as the educity of Tamilnadu. The arrival of Lord Hayavadhana to the residence of Venkataramanachar nearly two hundred years ago heralded the arrival of knowledge to the town that began to experience peace after the Mysore wars.
Coimbatore is known as the educity of Tamilnadu. The arrival of Lord Hayavadhana to the residence of Venkataramanachar nearly two hundred years ago heralded the arrival of knowledge to the town that began to experience peace after the Mysore wars.
The English East India Company found the quaint town and its salubrious climate attractive. Therefore they made Coimbatore the capital of the district in 1804. The town limped back to normalcy and the citizens who had quit the city began to return home.
The prayers in the Kottai Sangameswaraswamy Temple resumed thereafter.
The town started to move ahead due to the arrival of its old citizens and also the interest shown by the Europeans. It was around this time that a number people felt that modern education based on the best of both western and eastern traditions would take the town forward.
A beginning was made by Tahsildar C.M.Veeraswamy Mudaliar in the year 1854 in this regard. He was inspired by Muthukrishna Naidu, the District Munsif and with the help of the charitable minded public, he founded a vernacular school in the Pettai area.
The school came to be known as 'Hindu Vidyalaya' and it was housed in a building of its own built at a cost of about Rs.2,000. Initially, the school provided instruction in Tamil, Telugu, and Marathi for students up to standard two.
On seeing this development, E.B.Thomas, the Collector of Coimbatore allotted some wetlands for supporting the school financially on the condition that neither the founders nor their heirs could claim an interest on this endowment.
Muthukrishna Naidu was the first President of the school and C.M.Veerasamy Mudaliar stayed on as the Secretary until his demise in the year 1862. He managed the school with aplomb and his good work inspired many more people to perform good deeds in the town. It was a time when education was treated as a noble act and institutions were managed with a charitable intent.
The public supported the financial requirements generously. The school founded by C.M.Veerasamy Mudaliar declined after his demise for want of proper direction, and his son V.Ramaswamy Mudaliar, who had been managing the school with the aid of a committee offered to transfer the management of the school to the London Mission at Coimbatore.
On learning about these developments, the leading members of the Hindu Community organized several public meetings to protest against the proposed transfer and finally at a meeting held on October 20 in 1875 under the Presidentship of Vakil V.Kuppuswamy Iyer and a resolution to take over the institution on an as is where is basis was passed.
The new managing committee consisted of District Munsif Malhari Rao (President), Viswanatha Iyer (Secretary), Katchapeswara Iyer, Srirangachari, Venkatarangappa Naicker, Srinivasa Rao, R.Krishnier, Chinnaswamy Naicker, Ranganatha Mudaliar, Srinivasa Mudaliar, Thirumalai Iyengar, Bhujanga Rao, Parthasarathi Mudaliar, Kandaswamy Mudaliar, V.Subba Rao, Kanakasabhai Chettiar and Srinivasa Rayar (Committee Members).
On 13/11/1881 a resolution passed in order to name the school as 'The Veerasamy Mudaliar School' and it was resolved to teach both Tamil and English while Marathi and Telugu were dropped for want of pupils.
Later on, another resolution was passed on 21/06/1908 through which the committee assumed the management of the 'Hindu Elementary School' that was functioning in a rented building at Karuppa Gounder Street. Slowly and steadily the school overcame impediments and started offering classes up to class eight by the year 1930. The visionary committee members who were involved with the school over the decades did their best by expanding the buildings by seeking contributions from the public and also by ensuring that the Government of the times did its bit. The Veerasamy Mudaliar School Committee was accordingly registered on 28/02/1925 under the Societies Registration Act and a statutory permanence was bestowed on the school. The committee at that time consisted of B.Venkatachala Mudaliar (President), K.R.Subbarayar (Secretary) while S.R.Ramakrishna Aiyar, A.R.Sadagopachar, K.R.Venkatarama Aiyer, C.K.Subramania Mudaliar, T.A.Somasundaram Chettiar, S.Nathamuni Gounder, V.Sesha Aiyengar, C.S.Chockalingam Pillai and T.S.Venkataramana Aiyer served on the committee.
A number of noble-minded souls including Sathyamangalam Kamatchi Sastriyar who made a gift of four fully paid up shares of the value of Rs.100 in the Coimbatore Varthaka Vrithi Bank Ltd, B.Venkatachala Mudaliar had provided Rs.35 per year through a trust deed, C.K.Venkataramana Aiyar of Karuppa Gounder Street provided Rs.500 through his will. The TV Brothers family is also among the list of donors. A prize was initiated for a pupil of the school in the name of N.Rama Iyer a Secretary of the institution in recognition of his long term commitment. Thanks to the resolution of 16/9/1951 the school committee began to award a prize to the best pupil in the highest class in the name of K.R.Subbarayar who had served the school for nearly half a century as both President and Secretary. His indefatigable energy, the earnestness of purpose and unstinted efforts made the school a premier institution in the city. It’s important to learn that several well-meaning people had served as the Presidents of the school committee and they include Muthukrishna Naidu (District Munsif), Malhari Rao (District Munsif), Nott Srinivasa Rao (Huzur Treasurer), Annasami Rao (Vakil), C.V.Viswanatha Iyer (English Head Clerk), T.Appaji Iyer (Tahsildar), B.Venkatachala Mudaliar (High Court Vakil), K.R.Subbarayar (College Lecturer), B.Muthukumaraswamy Mudaliar (Landlord), M.S.Palaniappa Mudaliar (Landlord), C.K.Muthuswamy Iyer (Advocate), R.G.Subramaniam (Head Master), C.M.Ramachandran (Engineer), P.V.Krishnaswamy (Advocate) and P.Rathinam (Landlord).
Coimbatore town became a big city thanks to the vision and social contribution of these gentlemen who were involved with a lot of good work. Some of these people found managing the Veerasamy Mudaliar School helped in the founding of the Coimbatore Cosmopolitan Club in the year 1891. The club has perpetuated their memory by placing their names and photographs in its lobby. The Secretaries who had served the school include C.M.Veerasamy Mudaliar (Tahsildar), Viswanatha Iyer, Venkatarangappa Naicker, N.Rama Iyer (School Master), K.R.Subbarayar (College Lecturer), C.K.Muthuswamy Iyer (Advocate) and M.Ramaswamy B.A., B.L (he has been the admirable Secretary for over 50 years. He hails from the family of Thambianna Mudaliar (great, great grandfather), his great-grandfather was Pasupathi Mudaliar while his grandfather was Ramaswamy Mudaliar and his father was Muthukumaraswamy Mudaliar (Mother - Subbulakshmi Ammal). Rukmini Ramaswamy (belongs to the Kannankurichi Zamin lineage) happens to be his wife and companion who stood by him all her life.
The Veerasamy School is offering quality education and is under the mid-day meals programme. Hundreds of students are doing their education under this roof. Several Headmasters including V.Ramakrishna Iyer, S.Subramania Iyer, S.Krishnier, R.Ranga Rao, S.Sitharamier, J.Pasupathy Iyer, M.R.Madhava Rao, and R.Krishnamachar had served the school in the past along with an army of good-hearted efficient teachers. The Centenary year committee consisted of Muthukumaraswamy Mudaliar (President), C.K.Muthuswamy Iyer (Secretary), C.K.Subramania Mudaliar, T.S. Venkataraman Iyer, C.S.Sambamurthy Iyer, S.Kannusami Gounder, A.Doraiswamy Iyer, V.C.Subbiah Gounder, M.S.Palaniappa Mudaliar and K.S. Subbanarasimha Iyer (Committee members).
The Veerasamy School is an epitome of Tamil education in Coimbatore. It’s a known fact that the best students are created as an outcome of using the mother tongue as the medium of instruction. English can always be mastered as a language like Hindi or other languages
It’s time that we realize this aspect and recognize the good work of institutions like Veerasamy Mudaliar School that have helped the city of Coimbatore to catapult itself into the global education map.