Saraswati Vidyalaya: An abode of learning for 125 years

Nagpur: The year was 1894, a time when education of girls was not on the priority list of many families. But a gentleman named Bahadur Vasudev Mudaliar decided to change that. On a small premises at Sitabuldi, he started the Tamil Mixed School with just seven students on roll.
This humble beginning was the foundation of Saraswati Vidyalaya, an institution whose alumni have made a name for themselves not only in the world of academics and sports, but also politics. The state’s chief minister Devendra Fadnavis is a proud Saraswatian.

The school went through many changes before becoming the grand institution it is today. Almost decades after taking in its first student, the school started giving admission to boys as well and the enrolment numbers swelled. From just 32 students in 1910, it went to 400 in 1941.

The Sitabuldi premises, which exists even today at Modi No. 1, was expanded a couple of times but space was always going to be a premium commodity in the busy commercial area.

In 1950, the current premises at Shankar Nagar was purchased from Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT) and it was the famous actress Vyjayanthimala who was one of the big donors for the new school building. “Vyjayanthimala had performed in Shankar Nagar at a time when there was nothing all the way till Ambazari. She and M Subbulakshmi donated all proceeds from their performances for the school,” says S Prabhuraman, principal of the school. It was here in 1953 that the school’s name was changed to Saraswati Vidyalaya.

A defining moment for the school came when Nagpur was made part of the new state of Maharashtra in 1960. “We had to choose the language of instruction. Many of our peer institutions were choosing lower English, some chose Marathi too. But the principal at that time decided to stick with English as the first language,” says Prabhuraman.

The vision shown by the school management back then is paying dividends almost 70 years later. Today, Saraswati Vidyalaya has almost 5,000 students while its peers are struggling for admissions with enrolment now in just a couple of hundreds because of the non-English medium of instruction.

The school’s teachers too were strong characters, some remembered even almost hundred years later. Prabhuraman says, “In 1930, there was a teacher named RD Swami, also known as ‘Iron Lady’. At that time parents were not ready to send their girls in the prescribed uniform, because it was ‘just-below-the-knee’ format. Swami went to every student’s house and convinced their parents. Finally, a compromise was reached in which girls wore a long skirt, something which is very common in south India.”

Another teacher that made a difference to a lot of people was English teacher Mrs T Rao. “She was the one who taught us grammar is such a way that even decades later its effect are with us,” says Dr Sandhya Khadse, dean of the government run Rajiv Gandhi Medical College in Thane.

“Even today, when I do official correspondence my grammar is always perfect,” says Dr Khadse who passed out in early 70s and whose mother R Sulochana was the school’s chemistry teacher.

Well-known academician Dr Ved Prakash Mishra said the seeds of his oratory skills were laid on the school campus. “I gave my first speech at the age of seven in 1962 in front of the Saraswati temple. Even my reason for taking up medical career is because of my biology teacher Padma Bardhan, wife of the late AB Bardhan. I take a lot of pride in my grammar skills and that’s because of the teachers like T Rao among others,” says Dr Mishra.

Dr Anup Marar (1982 batch) says the school shaped the lives of students in more ways than one. “This school taught us life science. Apart from being taught by exemplary teachers, all SVians have succeeded to make a mark in their fields only because of skills taught in school,” he says.

The school’s bonding with its students is best seen by the fact that all of the trustees are alumni, making them not only administrative but also emotional stakeholders. “Only the principal is an outsider,” laughs Prabhuraman, who has been working here since 1987. “The school’s management body is not run by any family, but by individuals who are striving to add glory to an institution,” he sums up.

Famous alumni

* Devendra Fadnavis

Maharashtra Chief Minister

* Justice S Dharamadhikari

Former high court judge

* Major General (retd) Manoj Oka

War veteran

* Faiz Fazal

Current Vidarbha Ranji cricket team captain

* Akshay Wadkar

Current Ranji cricket player

Moorthy Rajan

* First captain of Vidarbha Ranji Team

* Yashwant Kanetkar

Well-known author

* Dr Sandhya Khadse

Dean, Rajiv Gandhi Medical College (Thane Municipal Corporation)

* Nisha Kothari

Academician and entrance exam coach

* Dr Ved Prakash Mishra

Chancellor, Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences ‘Deemed To Be University’, Karad

* Dr Anup Marar

Director of Orange City Hospital

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THE EVENTS

FEB 16 | Inauguration, 5pm

FEB 17 | ‘Carnatic Music Concert’ by well-known vocalists and violinists by sisters Ranjani and Gayatri

FEB 18

Tamil musical drama ‘Sri Tyagarajar’ by Shri TV Vardharajan and troupe, which depicts the life of Saint Thyagarajar

FEB 19 | Tamil comedy drama ‘Plastic kadavul’ by TV Vardharajan and troupe, which portrays the good and evil created in cities by credit cards

FEB 20 | Bharatanatyam performance by Rama Vaidyanathan who has won many prestigious awards

(All programmes at Saraswati Vidyalaya, Shankar Nagar)