In 1817, a trio of foreign missionaries of CMS (Church Missionary Society) — Benjamin Bailey, Joseph Fenn and Henry Baker — set up an educational institution in Kottayam. This Kottayam trio, as they were popularly called, were the first to bring Western education into the country.
In 1864, the college hit its first landmark with Vidya Samgrah, the first college magazine in Kerala.
“Catch them young, teach them young,” was the dictum of these missionaries — the result, the college has an elite alumni in the fields of art, politics, science and jurisprudence.
“I have had a long association with CMS college. It was here that I learnt my values. My college shaped my persona,” says KT Thomas, former chief justice, Supreme Court. He had his intermediate education at CMS during the 1950s and still carries fond memories of his teachers.
“I used to have great teachers. Ambalapuzha Ramavarma, who taught me Malayalam, was one among them. He was such a handsome and scholarly teacher that our eyes never flitted from his face. Years later, when he was asked who should unveil his portrait, he suggested my name. It was an unforgettable moment in my life when I unveiled the portrait of my teacher in his presence,” Thomas recalls.
As for the teachers, their lives have been interwoven with CMS. MM Korah, the present principal, came to CMS as a pre-degree student. Later, he did his bachelor’s and master’s here. He then joined the college as a chemistry professor. Today after 35 long years, he is at the helm of CMS. “It is destined. When I came here for the first time as a student, I never knew about the kind of association I was to have with CMS,” says the principal.
Susan Varghese, head, Department of English, says that she has never been able to think of a life without CMS. “I have worked here for nearly 30 years. I have always felt proud to be a part of the oldest college in India,” she says.
CMS has always remained a college that prodded politics and politically conscious students in the campus. However, it hogged the headlines
recently for refusing SFI’s demands to reinstate a student, who was expelled on charges of misbehaviour, indiscipline and disobedience. The timely intervention of Thomas helped settle the issue.
The picturesque campus that spreads over a vast acreage houses architectural wonders like the CMS chapel, the Great Hall and the Collins library. The library stacks the oldest and the newest copies of books and has a great collection of rare books.
CMS today offers 13 UG and 14 PG programmes. Almost all departments are research centres and many PG programmes are over 50 years old. The college also offers an add-on course called SRISHTI, meant for students interested in handicrafts.
—aswinjkumar@expressbuzz.com