Kuruvila Jacob’s tenure at
Madras Christian College High School
Kuruvila Jacob was the Headmaster of Madras Christian College High School, Chennai, from 1931 to 1962. Appointed as headmaster at the young age of 27, he embarked on his life’s work with a vision that education did not mean scholastic achievement alone, but all-round development of the student. During the period of his stewardship, he strove for excellence in the true sense of the word. He ensured that the school was accessible to every strata of society and that there were absolutely no social or religious barriers. After retirement in 1962 from Madras Christian College High School, Kuruvila Jacob became the principal of Hyderabad Public School. In 1969, Mr. Jacob moved to Mumbai to become the principal of the Cathedral and John Connon School, the first Indian to head the school.
The late Kuruvila Jacob was a teacher par excellence and a legend in his own time. Respected in India as an outstanding educationist, he was invited by the Indian government to serve on several educational bodies. Very few men influenced educational policies and systems to the extent that Mr. Kuruvila Jacob did in the 1950s and 1960s. Besides being a brilliant administrator, he was a kind-hearted teacher ever mindful of the well-being of his students.
The Kuruvila Jacob Initiative
To honour this great educationist and humanist on his birth centenary in 2004, a substantial body of his students and alumni of Madras Christian College High School launched the Kuruvila Jacob Initiative for Promoting Excellence in School Education on 3rd August 2004. The initiative is managed by the Kuruvila Jacob Memorial Educational Trust comprising the following old students of Mr. Jacob, all of them students of Madras Christian College High School as trustees.
Mr. S. Viji, Managing Director, Brakes India Ltd.; Chairman, Sundaram Finance Ltd.
Mr K. M. Mammen, Chairman and Managing Director, MRF Ltd.
Mr N Ram-Editor-in- Chief,’The Hindu’
Mr. N. Sankar, Chairman, Sanmar Group
Mr. V. K. Chandra Kumar, Chairman, PL Chemicals Group of Companies
Mr. I. Jairaj, Director, TVS Dynamic Global Freight Services
The Trust is assisted by a Core Committee comprising Mr. S. Viji as the convener; Mr. K. M. Mammen and Mr. N. Murali as the co-conveners; and Mr. V. K. Chandra Kumar, Mr. Govind Raghavan, Mr. I. Jairaj, Mr. P. T. Krishnan, Mr. N. Kumar, Mr. N. Ram, Mrs Rebekah Mani , Mr. N. Sankar , Mr. G. Shanker, Mr. V. Subramanian, Mr. Somi Hazari and Mr.V J Raghunath as members. This committee reviews the activities of the Initiative once a month. The Initiative has been made possible by the generous financial contributions received from the old students of Mr. Jacob at Madras Christian College School, Chennai, Hyderabad Public School and Cathedral and John Connon School, Mumbai.
Primary Objectives of the Kuruvila Jacob Initiative
Private Schools cluster
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Phase - I
A programme spread over a period of 20 months was launched on 30th October 2004 and was conducted applying the model for education excellence developed by CII-Institute of Quality (CII-IQ), Bangalore, based on a study of internationally recognized educational and management models. It was designed to improve the effectiveness and performance of heads and senior teachers of schools in Chennai, by applying the TQM concepts, suitably modified for education.
This project included orientation, awareness and training programmes and cluster meetings to facilitate sharing of best practices amongst the schools. Applying the concepts and criteria, a questionnaire was sent to all the participating schools and based on the replies received an appraisal and gap assessment was carried out. The feedback was sent to each school confidentially to enable it to initiate action necessary to enhance the quality of education in their school.
The first phase of the project concluded with the schools identifying certain areas for improvement and putting down an action plan to address the gaps. Twenty-four Chennai city schools from all streams of education joined in the initiative during the first phase.
Phase II (Post assessment programme)
Ten schools were part of the post-assessment programme. The programme focused on process improvement in schools specifically in the fields of administration, resource management, knowledge management, staff recruitment, training and appraisal. It also adopted cluster approach along with training and awareness programmes and counselling visits.
School excellence clusters –Corporation Schools
The schools in these clusters are affiliated to Tamilnadu board but geographically located in Chennai city only. To make a difference in the State run schools, the trust initiated its TQM programme with 9 schools managed by Corporation of Chennai on June 5, 2005 in Chennai .Some of the objectives set for these schools were: to develop stakeholder participation, to encourage schools adopt holistic concept of education, to improve school performance and to help cluster member schools to achieve their objective with process approach.
Encouraged by the positive results of the first cluster two more clusters were initiated by the Trust on 29th of July 2006 and 25th of August 2008. Each cluster consists of 10 Chennai City Corporation schools involving 30 senior teachers including 10 headmasters. The cluster schools are working for higher goals and show improvement in their performance. The main focus area chosen by the Corporation schools cluster was Result Improvement. They have also undergone training in TQM and 5S. The Kuruvila Jacob Initiative also assists the cluster schools in process improvement.
In addition to individual counselling at the respective campuses, the counsellor who is in-charge of the cluster facilitates cluster meetings, conducted periodically (usually once a month), to encourage sharing amongst the participating institutions. The principal and two teachers attend all training programmes, thereby remaining in constant touch with the counsellor. These school resource persons (SRPs), transfer the learning to the whole school to seek involvement of all in the school for effective implementation and improvement in results – the approach promotes the participation of the school, parents and society to work together to meet the changing demands of all the stakeholders. The objectives of the training sessions are to help institutions understand and imbibe the concepts of quality and its applicability in the education sector.
Model School Programme on QCI Framework
As per the request of the Corporation of Chennai, the Initiative launched a programme on 17th November 2008 for the establishment of 3 model schools from the first and second cluster. The selected schools will function within the QCI framework of Quality School Governance Standards. This accreditation standard aims at providing a framework for the effective management and delivery of a holistic education programme for overall development of students. It also encourages schools to pursue continual excellence. Accreditation is awarded after carrying out structured assessment of compliance to the standards. The schools are expected to get accreditation by the end of 2010.
Apart from these programmes, the Initiative is also looking for the establishment of a quality assurance cell at Chennai City Corporation to sustain the processes implemented. All the Corporation school programmes have been conducted on a free-of-cost basis by the Trust with training assistance from CII-IQ, Bangalore. Support from the Corporation Officials right from the very top helped us in sustaining the programmes
Education Leadership Programme by SOL-CEMD [Spirit of Leadership &Centre for Education and Management Development], New Delhi
In the age of globalization where technology is shrinking the world, the task of preparing future generations is tremendously complex and challenging. The school system continues to be the agency that has a major share of this responsibility. However, we find that people in charge of these systems are often not even equipped with the existing knowledge and skills that can make them effective in the 21st century.
Keeping this in mind a training programme for Education Leadership (ELP), one of the key areas for improvement identified by the schools based on their self-assessment, was launched in October 2006. This is a one-year, open-learning post-graduate diploma course offered by the Centre for Education and Management Development (CEMD), New Delhi, and is conducted through an interactive, participatory and experimental learning process . This unique programme, based on studies of similar courses conducted at the University of Washington and Harvard University, USA, has been customized to suit the context of Indian schools.
The ELP aims to provide the skills, knowledge and attitudes necessary for school principals and administrators to shape the future of schools and their students. The main objectives of ELP are to facilitate change by developing leaders and institutions and provide effective and empowering leadership. The sessions are based on experiential learning principles and the consensus-seeking model based on constructivist pedagogy. The programme is conducted in three sessions spread over a period of 10 months. In the past four years, 134 participants consisting of principals and correspondents have benefited by ELP. The participants who have completed the assignments and portfolio are being honoured with post-graduate diploma certificates at the annual function on the 3rd of August every year.
Due to the overwhelming responses from the schools, the trust would start the fifth bath of Education Leadership Programme in September 2010. [Brochure 2010 -’11]
Project on Multimedia –Enhanced Elementary Science
One of the objectives in launching the Kuruvila Jacob initiative is to act as a catalyst, aiding schools to adopt innovative methods and techniques in the learning process. Keeping this in mind, and to promote critical thinking and problem-solving skills of students from class VI to class X, especially in Maths, Physics, Chemistry and other sciences, the Initiative commenced a project in February 2007 conducted by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras, on Innovation in Teaching Methodology with Access to Web-Based Learning. IIT provides the cognitive, interactive and the software/human resource assistance to teachers from schools under the Kuruvila Jacob Initiative for developing web-based content in Chemistry and Physics.
Eighty faculty members from 20 Chennai city schools are part of this project to help develop curriculum-based interactive learning modules for children in standards six to nine. The modules developed will cater to CBSE, ICSE and Tamil Nadu State Board streams of education. The modules in Physics and Chemistry are expected to be ready by August 2010 and will be available in the public domain for the schools. Similar modules for other subjects are under consideration with the help of IIT, Madras.
Annual Function on the Late Kuruvila Jacob’s Birth Anniversary
Every year on the 3rd of August, an annual function is held with a renowned educationist or eminent personality being invited to address the audience on current educational issues.
Since 2004, eminent personalities have participated in the annual function and some of them are:
Mr.P.Chidambaram,UnionMinisterofHome
Mr. M. K. Narayanan, National Security Adviser
Prof. Kasturirangan , former Chairman of ISRO
Dr. S. Thiagarajan, former Vice-Chancellor of Madras University
Dr. M. S. Ananth, Director, IIT Madras
Mr. N. Sankar, Chairman, Sanmar Group, Chennai
Mr. Darius Forbes, Chairman Emeritus, JN Marshall Group, and
Dr. M. Anandakrishnan, past Chairperson, Madras Institute of Development Studies, and
Prof. Krishna Kumar, Director, National Council of Research and Training, Delhi (NCERT)
Mr. Somi Hazari, Managing Director, Shosova Properties Pvt. Ltd. (Alumnus of Cathedral and John Connon School) and
Mr. Ramachandra Guha ,historian and author .
This year Shri Kapil Sibal, Hon’ble Minister for Human Resource Development was the chief guest to deliver the First Kuruvila Jacob Memorial Oration on 11th July 2010.
All the programmes of the Kuruvila Jacob Memorial Educational Trust are substantially sponsored by donations from the old students and well wishers of Mr. Jacob. The Initiative has brought together the key stakeholders/constituents in the education process, education authorities in Tamil Nadu, Chennai city schools, alumni and industry associations to jointly tread the path of continuous improvement towards excellence in education. The Kuruvila Jacob Initiative will ensure up gradation of quality in participating schools while promoting the qualities of excellence so dear to our headmaster’s heart and which are very valid today.
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