KOCHI: Visionary educationist and founder-principal of Chinmaya schools, Kamakshi Balakrishnan, passed away on Wednesday. She was 99.
Widely remembered as one of the three figures in South India who laid the foundation for CBSE education in the 1970s and 80s (alongside Y G Parthasarathy and Alamelu), Kamakshi, with her sisters, was instrumental in bringing the CBSE stream to Kochi and Kerala in the late 1970s.
As founder-director of Chinmaya Vidyapeet and Chinmaya College, Ernakulam, she carved new paths in education, emphasising academic rigour while fostering cultural and artistic pursuits. She later served as trustee of the Chinmaya Education Trust and as director of several school boards, helping raise institutional standards and popularise CBSE across the state.
A student of music under the renowned scholar Sambamoorthy in Chennai in the 1950s, Kamakshi was also vice-president of Kerala Fine Arts. She encouraged generations of students to explore music, dance, writing and theatre, and was among the early patrons of SPIC MACAY in Kerala.
The daughter of noted lawyer and writer Mannathazathu Narayana Menon (Apputy Menon), Kamakshi studied at Maharaja’s College, Kochi, before pursuing music at Madras University. Later, as an Army wife, she travelled across the country, deepening her exposure to diverse art forms. It was also during this period that she developed an interest in teaching.
She then went on to earn her BEd from Bangalore University in 1971, securing second rank, and taught at Loreto Convent, New Delhi, before being invited by Swami Chinmayananda to helm the newly established Chinmaya Vidyalaya in 1976. With the support of her sisters and the Chinmaya Mission’s pioneering members, she steered the institution into one of Kerala’s leading centres of learning.
Known to generations of students as Kamakshi ma’am, she earned a reputation as the ‘iron lady’ of education for being firm, disciplined and uncompromising in her standards, yet deeply committed to nurturing young talent.
Kamakshi last served as patron of Tattwa Centre of Learning, where she continued to be interested in the arts and in encouraging youngsters to develop their potential.
Her mortal remains will be kept at her residence, Parvathi Nivas (Diwan’s Road, near Durbar Hall Ground), until Wednesday evening for students, friends and well-wishers to pay their respects.
She is survived by daughters Maya Mohan and Rema Jayaram, and brother M K Das. Her sons-in-law are Mohan Chandrasekhar and the late K Jayaram (former cricketer).