Educationist and founder of the Montessori Educational Institutions in Vijayawada V. Koteswaramma passed away on Sunday morning. She was 94. Koteswaramma had been ailing for some time. The last rites will be performed on Tuesday.
Born on September 15, 1925 at Gosala, a sleepy village adjacent to Kankipadu in Krishna district, Koteswaramma was the first woman graduate in Vijayawada taluka, way back in 1945. She established a school with 20 children in 1955, which later grew in size and stature, in phases, into a campus comprising institutions imparting education from KG to PG students.
Besides a steely determination, she invested hard work and passion that got her recognition as the ‘Best Teacher’ at the national level in 1971. Padma being one of the highest civilian awards she received, the response of the nonagenarian would have perhaps been more pronounced had it not been for her failing health that did not allow her to celebrate her achievement full steam.
“Hard work pays off. One must keep working, the recognition will automatically come,” she had responded when the news first broke out that she had been conferred with the Padma award in the ‘Education and Literature’ category in 2017.
Initially, she wanted to pursue a career in medicine but as she grew up, her passion for teaching became more pronounced and she opted for a B.Ed course after a degree in Andhra Christian College in Guntur. A deemed university status for the Montessori campus is an unfulfilled dream she passed away with.