PALAKKAD : Kerala State Teachers Association (KSTA) former state general secretary and CPM Pudussery area committee member Rasheed Kanicheri, 67, died of cardiac arrest here on Saturday. The body will be kept at the KSTA district committee office at Koppam from 8 am to 9 am on Sunday.
Till 11 am, it will be kept at the CPM Pudussery area committee office and later handed over to the Palakkad Medical College as per his last wish. Nabeesa Beevi (retired teacher) is his wife.
DYFI central committee member Nitin Kanicheri and Calicut University Union former chairperson Ninitha (a teacher at PMG Higher Secondary School, Palakkad) are his children. M B Rajesh MP is his son-in-law and Sreeja (chartered accountant) is his daughter-in-law. Born to Ummer Khan and Patthumma Kunju at Panmana in Kollam on October 26, 1949, his career began as a Malayalam teacher at a parallel college here. In 1977, he became a teacher at the Government High School, Kottayi. The same year, he joined the Government High School, Elapully, through the PSC. He had worked in Government Moyan Girls High School, Tarekkad, for a long while.
When the Kerala State Teachers Association was formed in 1991, he became its state executive committee member. He was its state general secretary from 1999 to 2005. Rasheed was one of the prominent leaders who conducted the 32-day strike against the A K Antony Government in 2002. A former member of the State Curriculum Committee, Quality Improvement Committee and State Literacy Commission, Rashid was a member of the O V Vijayan Memorial Committee till death.
Kanicheri’s death mourned
T’Puram: Condolences have poured in over the death of CPM leader and former general secretary of Kerala School Teachers’ Association Rasheed Kanicheri. In his condolence message, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan remembered Rasheed as a person who fought for positive changes in the state’s education sector. He was at the forefront of the struggles of teachers and non-teaching staff, Pinarayi said.
Culture Minister A K Balan said he was deeply saddened by the news of Kanicheri’s demise. He recalled his close association with the deceased who was the leader of teachers’ union in Palakkad while Balan was leading the trade union movement in the district. Minister C Raveendranath said Kanicheri was the leader of many struggles waged by teachers and government employees. CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrish-nan remembered Kanicheri as a teachers’ union leader who gave valuable contribution towards the growth of modern Kerala.