By Sandeep Vellaram

Copyright thehindu

The Munnar Government Vocational Higher Secondary School is celebrating 100 years of shaping young lives in the hill station this year. The institution had its beginnings as a high school in an abandoned British tea factory in the heart of Munnar’s tea plantations. Founded to educate the children of plantation workers, it is the first high school in the region.

Historical records states that the British-owned Kanan Devan Producer Company set up the high school in 1926. The government took over the school in 1955 and later upgraded it to a vocational higher secondary school.

In his book, Munnar, Charithram Vishesham, writer and journalist M.J. Babu narrates the pivotal role of the school in shaping the education system in the Munnar hills. “Thomas John, a Malayali, was the first headteacher the school. Mr. John, on his way back from Britain after completing his higher education, met on the ship a few Britishers who were managing the Kanan Devan tea plantation in Munnar. They asked him to take over the school and appointed him as its first headteacher. “

Tea factory

Mr. Babu, the school’s alumni association president, says the school was built in a tea factory that was damaged in the 1924 floods. A boys’ hostel was also opened near the school to ensure boarding facility for students from far away- estates. The school authorities then had used the portion of an abandoned train to heat water for the hostel students,” says Mr. Babu.

“Many eminent personalities, including Walter Devaram, the former Director General of Police, Tamil Nadu, are the alumni of the school, ” says Mr. Babu.

Munnar Government Vocational Higher Secondary School headteacher S. Jayalakshmi says now 560 children are studying in the high school section. “Devikulam MLA A. Raja inaugurated on Thursday an year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of the school. Several anniversary-related programmes will be hosted in the school in the coming months,” says Dr. Jayalakshmi.