MADURAI: Thirty-eight years of dedication, passion and empathy have finally paid off, as 60-year-old RS Muralidharan, an Automobile Engineering teacher at TV Sundaram Higher Secondary School in Madurai, has been selected for the prestigious National Teacher Award for the year 2024.
Muralidharan along with R Gopinath of Panchayat Union Middle School at Rajakuppam in Vellore, the only two from the state who bagged the honour, are set to receive the award from the President of India Droupadi Murmu on National Teachers day in New Delhi.
Muralidharan, who has a BE and MBA, started working as Automobile Engineering teacher in TV Sundaram Higher Secondary School in 1986, handling classes for 11 and 12 in vocational stream, moulding many a life.
Ask Muralidharan, he would say most of the students in the school hail from poor backgrounds. “Majority of the students who opt for vocational group would have scored less marks in Class 10 examination,” he said, adding he sees it as his duty to mould the students so that they could opt for good career in the future.
His service has not gone unrecognised, as the TN government recognised him by presenting him with the state’s Best Teacher Award in 2021. He also received the NCERT award in 2014. The commitment he has for his noble work got reflected in the entire TV Sundaram school, when the institution was selected by the state government as ‘Best School in Teaching Vocational Course’. The school also got ‘Best Industrial Link School Award’ from NCERT in 2000.
Speaking to TNIE, a visibly elated Muralidharan said,” Teaching is my passion. I am putting my 100% to make my students the best. Many of my students have scored centum, and my students have got state ranks two times,” he said.
Most of my students, Muralidharan said, are children of daily-wage labourers. “The parents don’t know how to provide proper career guidance. Hence, from the day one, I took upon myself the responsibility of moulding my students.
Most of my students get admission to engineering courses in prestigious colleges across the state, including Thiagarajar College of Engineering, MEPCO and the like. I follow up on them after completing Class 12 till they get good jobs. I also guide them psychologically so that they could face whatever challenges that come their way. After all, life is all about challenges,” Muralidharan signed off.