Nandikkara Government HSS, Thrissur, was literally a patch of high ground during the floods that ravaged Kerala in August 2018. When the entire state rushed to relief camps, leaving behind their possessions and securing their lives, about 150 students of this public institution crisscrossed the floodwaters to rescue those marooned.
Their parents confidently let them join the rescue teams regardless of the fact that they were all aged under 15 - because they knew that if their kids could swim across the Kurumali river, cutting its strong currents and tricking its heavy flow, no surge could drown them or challenge their will.
All thanks to Rajan Thalore, the headmaster of the school who started a professional training center for swimming and disaster rescue in this riverside higher secondary school, in 2017. The school has over 150 trained swimmers now, all equipped to conduct themselves in both stagnant and flowing waters with or without professional equipment.
“I was posted as the headmaster of this school almost three years ago. The scenic beauty of this riverside institution impressed me. At the same time, I was surprised to learn that over 90 per cent of students did not know swimming. What if they accidentally fell into the waters! I constituted a professional swimming class in the school where experts trained the students in the river itself. River is their immediate surrounding and children should learn to survive in their own surroundings first,” Rajan said.
This visionary teacher thus gifted the land a group of young rescuers who saved the lives of many during the floods. Abhijith, a class IX student of the school, says: “When floodwater rose at our place, I accompanied my mother, father, and sister to the relief camp. After ensuring their safety, I rushed back to my village and took part in rescue operations. Neither of my parents were nervous and let me pursue my mission. They know the extensive training we had been given,” he said.
Another mission
If you think this is the first time Rajan’s foresight redefined the destiny of a village, you are probably wrong! This 55-year-old award-winning teacher hailing from Thalore, a rural township in Thrissur district of Kerala, has transformed almost all the institutions he has worked.
Panchavadyam village
In 1998, Rajan was posted as Malayalam teacher in Government HSS Kadavalloor. A tiny village in north Thrissur, Kadavalloor hosts the Kadavalloor Anyonyam, the ancient annual scholastic debate on the Rig Veda. This village is home to famous percussion artistes like Kadavalloor Aravindakshan and Hariharan, both Maddalam wizards. The place is also famous for its identical twins. The village has over 70 pairs of twins now, as per latest statistics.
When Rajan joined the school as a new employee after five years in private schools around Thrissur, Kadavalloor HSS was a typical government school. "I used to spend time socializing with local people in teashops and streets as I was a total stranger to the place. I learned that there were a lot of skilled percussion artists in that village, who struggled to meet their expenses after the festival season. It was the same year when the Thrissur district missed the first place in the state school youth festival for barely two points. I thought that the district could claim the trophy if it won an A grade in an item which promises about four credits,” he said.
He invited local percussion artists to the school and constituted a Panchavadyam training center. Training was imparted to students in each of the five items and a Panchavadyam was in place in ten months. Kadavalloor HSS won the second prize in the state-level Panchavadyam competition the next year. “The very next year, we won the first prize in the state school youth festival in Kozhikode, winning the district the ever-rolling trophy of 2000,” Rajan says. (In Panchavadyam, the Timila, Maddalam, Ilathalam, Idakka and Kombu are used).
Kadavalloor HSS slowly became popular for its Panchavayam Kalari. Percussion aspirants from far-off lands started joining the school for professional training in Panchavadyam along with their studies. Over 50 skilled percussion artists pass out of the school annually. Now, 18 years after his first posting, Kadavalloor is literally a Panchavadyam village with over a thousand trained percussion artistes and hundred Panchavadyam professionals.
Sanjayan, the captain of the first Panchavadyam team of Kadavalloor HSS, recalls his association with Rajan with great gratitude.
“I was a class IX student when Rajan master joined our school. When he mooted forming a Panchavadyam team for the state school youth festival, I was one among the few enthusiasts who grabbed the opportunity without a second thought. However, I had passed out of the school by the time the school won the first prize in the youth festival in Kozhikode. Rajan master’s vision earned me a living. I am a professional Maddalam artist now. I am also the chief trainer at the Panchavadyam unit of Kadavalloor HSS,” he said.
Sanjayan says his teacher also redefined the village’s destiny. “Without his service, Kadavalloor would have been just another rural place. Now, our village is known for its Panchavadyam expertise. Children, regardless of caste, class, gender and language barriers, learn Panchavadyam here. We have an exclusive girls’ Panchavadyam team at our school too,” Sanjayan says proudly.
In 2004, Rajan was promoted and posted as trainer with the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) where he trained new teachers in the state service.
Hunger-free education
In 2014, Rajan was posted as the headmaster of Valappad Government HSS, Thrissur. The first thing Rajan noticed after he joined the school was its pathetic system of serving midday meals. “Teachers served midday meal comprising gruel and boiled green gram with a grim face. Students ate their portion of the meal sitting on random pieces of boulder or the compound wall. No one was smiling. I was disturbed. Midday meal is not a favor from the school but the legal right of students. I spoke to some people and started a scheme for the betterment of the school’s midday meal programme,” he says.
Rajan cleaned up some storerooms in the school and made it the ‘Oottupura’ or dining hall. He named it after Kunjunni Mash, the famed Malayalam writer, teacher and poet who once said midday meal is a significant part of school education. He motivated local people and alumni to donate money to serve special meals to schoolchildren. Rajan made it mandatory for teachers to have food with the students, talking to them.
'Donate Rs 200, we’d serve papad with meal. Donate Rs 1000, we’ll serve them a Sadya,’ read some posters outside the Valappad school. Soon, the school became a hunger-free campus where students waited for the lunch break to discover the day’s surprise dish.
The Kerala Education Department adopted the ‘Valappad model’ for hunger-free primary education in government schools across the state in 2015. Almost all schools were allotted funds to build dining halls and teachers were instructed to share meals with students, sitting with them.
Rajan also developed a ‘star-forest’ in the school by planting trees corresponding to the 28 moon signs. “It was the concept of C Ravindranath, my childhood friend, colleague and the present education minister of Kerala, that a school should itself be a textbook for all visitors. With the participation of students, we fixed nameboards on each tree on the campus, describing its medicinal value, scientific name and other peculiarities,” he said.
In the Nandikkara school, he has a theater group, a library, and ‘eco-friendly campus modules.’ Rajan is getting ready to retire after 20 years of service in April 2019.
“I feel like I was posted at Kadavalloor HSS yesterday. The very first batch of Kadavalloor Panchavadyam Kalari is organizing a reunion in April next year. I am more excited about that than my retirement. I think I can involve in more social activities once I am relieved of professional responsibilities,” Rajan says in excitement.
Rajan’s wife, Rajani, is a schoolteacher. His only daughter is a student of BA English literature at Kerala Varma College, Thrissur.
