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As promised, the 83-year-old man was waiting for me at his house in Kodambakkam that sleepy afternoon - a nice time for a siesta even for a youngster like me. But V T Titus appeared to be energetic, ready to open the vast book of his experience. For V T Titus, who is the first director of School Education in Tamil Nadu and has worked as director of Collegiate Education and was vice-chancellor of Annamalai University, teaching has been a “vocation”. Decades in the administrative side of the Department of Public Instruction are marked by the precious time he devoted to teaching. He had worked as an assistant professor in Presidency College for four years, was headmaster of a training school and high school and principal of a college before his appointment in the administrative section.
“After the formation of Kerala, I could have gone to Kerala and reached higher positions. But I wanted to serve the Tamil people. So, I remained here,” Titus, whose roots are in Mallappally, near Thiruvalla, says. “I was fortunate to be the son of Prof Titus Varghese, who taught history in Madras Christian College and was a writer. His influence instilled in me a love for history and education,” he says. As director of School Education, one of the chief concerns of Titus was to raise the salaries of teachers. “Our efforts and the recommendations of pay commissions have increased the salaries of teachers. But the question is: Has the improvement in salaries resulted in the improvement of quality of teachers?”
Titus, who was responsible for the implementation of the Gandhian system of education in the state (which he considers to be “the most challenging responsibility” in his career), bewails that after 50 years of Independence, a good number of people in the country remain uneducated. “Gandhiji thought that the greatest gift we can give to the country is educating the people. Freedom is of no use unless people are educated.” “The most wonderful aspect of the Gandhian system of education is that it is holistic and life-centered, based on activities and not on mere book learning. Gandhiji said literacy is not education. Education for life is quite essential. He wanted education to create a casteless and classless society. But our present system of education creates only classes in society as it stresses on competition - scoring high marks, reaching high positions and drawing high salaries,” Titus says.
“I want you to come here again. Do visit me again. I want to talk to you further,” Titus concluded at sharp 4 p.m. after talking me for almost two hours about the realm of his knowledge which also covered British education and Tamil-Malayalee relations. Salil Jose Readers' response/inputs can be e-mailed to salil@chennaionline.com.
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“If you are free now, just come straight over. I am free till 4 p.m.,” - this is an encouraging reply to anybody who wants to get an appointment for an interview.
“As I decided that I should devote my life to shaping the future generation, I taught in an elementary school even after retirement. I am fortunate that I taught at all levels - from primary to PG levels,” he says.
“As governments change, we find new educational reforms. But I can’t accept these meaningless reforms. Most of them don’t result in the improvement of the quality of education,” he says.
“As an old man who is in the last days of his life, I find the loss of
values in education one of the saddest things,” he adds.
