THOOTHUKUDI: A man with an artificial but beautifully-curved moustache, wearing a black suit, white dhoti and turban, entered the classroom. He introduced himself as Subramania Bharati, popularly known as Mahakavi Bharathiyar. Without wasting time, he recited a Tamil poem:
“Kani nilam vendum –Parashakthi, Kani nilam vendum-angu,
Thoonil azhagiyathai –nan madangal thuyya nirathinathai –antha,
Kani nilathidaye –Or maligai katti thara vendum…”
(I need a small piece of land, Oh divine mother, A small piece of land, and there, In the midst of that small piece of land you should build me a house)
Students listened to him keenly. Later, they raised their doubts, chatted, and laughed with him. And they had a lesson by Bharathiyar from their Tamil language textbook.
This is a daily affair at Vembur government higher secondary school in Thoothukudi. The man who appears in different costumes -- of poets, freedom fighters, and heroes from history textbooks is the Tamil teacher, K Duraipandian from Kammapatti village near Kayathar.
Being a kid, Duraipandian had been so much into history and had performed some of the characters by dressing up, on the advice of his teachers. When he grew up to become a teacher, the 35-year-old decided to follow the same method.
He initially made students dress up and enact the personalities from the textbook lessons. “In 2019, a student refused to wear the costume I suggested. This incident prompted me to think “why to deploy students when I can do it myself.”
Duraipandian joined as a bachelor teacher in Anaikat in Vellore district 2014, and worked at Kodumbalur of Pudukottai and Tiruchendur before coming to Thoothukudi.
For his students, Duraipandian is also Veerapandiya Kattabomman, VO Chidambaram Pillai, Quaid-e-millath, Tiruvalluvar, Barathiyar, King Kusela Pandian, and Rajaraja Cholan, among others.
“Gearing up as imminent personalities to act and speak like them is an excellent method to memorise important lessons without much stress. I took note of students performing well in academics after implementing this which made me continue it,” says the teacher.
During “Virivanam”, a storytelling class and “Kavithai Pezhai”, a poetry class he imparts knowledge to students through his costumes, which helps children to learn without getting bored.
“When the lessons are taught by enacting them, it enhances students’ interest and they become more focused. They remain undistracted whole through the session,” gushes the teacher who spends a considerable amount of money from his own pocket to buy/rent the costumes.
This method also helps to strengthen the student-teacher bond, he adds. Duraipandian even dressed up as a student when schools reopened after the Covid-19 induced lockdown.
“I did this to instil a sense of the onus in the school environment which was lost after the long gap,” he shares. He hopes to train more students in the coming years which will not only make them academically successful but also bring a genuine interest in art.