CHENNAI: Speaking at the centenary celebrations of Vidyodaya Schools in Chennai on Thursday, Chief Minister MK Stalin stressed on the importance of girls’ education. He said that women should break free from those trying to pin them down to the confines of their homes and study well.
There are still people who want to instil conservative ideas in society and want to keep women inside home. They want to rob the oppressed of the rights that were earned after much struggle. Consign the views of such people to the dustbin and study well. I keep saying this again and again---education is the wealth that no one can steal, the CM said.
Stalin hailed the role of Vidyodaya School, started by Elizabeth Sornam Appasamy in 1924, in creating several successful students. He said it has been functioning as a repository of knowledge. “She was the elder sister of Gandhian JC Kumarappa.
When ES Appasamy said she was going to start a school exclusively for girls, personalities like Muthulakshmi Reddy and Ammu Swaminathan helped collect donations,” the Chief Minister said and mentioned that the school was started at a time when there were only a handful of schools and there was a general lack of interest in education among people. He also noted that 1924 was also the birth year of Kalaingar Karunanidhi who set up several colleges and universities.
Mentioning the state government’s initiatives such as naan mudhalvan, reconstitution of school management committees, and setting up of hi-tech labs, among others, Stalin said the state is now in second place in providing quality education and the school education department is taking steps to take TN to the first place. We aim to take school and college education to everyone, Stalin said.