Chennai: Senior educationist S S Rajagopalan, a member of the Muthukumaran panel formed to set up Samacheer Kalvi (uniform system of school education) in the state under the late CM M Karunanidhi, passed away in a hospital in Chennai late on Tuesday. He was 95. His body has been handed over to Ramachandra Medical College for medical research.An English teacher who also taught maths, Rajagopalan began his career in the early 1950s at a govt-aided school in Coimbatore and rose to become its headmaster. He moved to Madras after his retirement in 1990 and briefly served as a senate member of Madras university. “He was close to three chief ministers — Kamaraj, Karunanidhi and MGR. During his tenure as headmaster, he gave his students freedom to frame their own conduct rules,” said K Raju, a relative of Rajagopalan. Rajagopalan has served as a member of the technical committee of the All-India Forum for Right Education, and briefly worked with State Platform for Common School System (SPCSS-TN) in TN. “He was a staunch advocate of mother tongue as medium of instruction in govt schools. During his time on Samacheer Kalvi committee, there was an accusation that the TN syllabus was below par in standards compared to CBSE or other syllabi. Through his year-long research, comparing the syllabi, he established that the content provided in TN syllabus was in fact more academically fulfilling than others,” SPCSS-TN general secretary P B Prince Gajendra Babu told TOI. Condoling his death, chief minister M K Stalin said: “I am deeply saddened to learn of the demise of senior educationist S S Rajagopalan. He showed immense concern for the development of education in TN and for student welfare. His passing is a great loss to the education sector”. Dravidar Kazhagam (DK) president K Veeramani recalled that Rajagopalan was a staunch opponent of National Education Policy and NEET, and said his demise was a loss to the struggle for right to education. CPI leader R Mutharasan, along with senior functionaries of the party, paid floral tributes to Rajagopalan’s portrait at the party’s state headquarters.
