Like any other educational institution, Teacher’s Day was celebrated in Pfeiffer Memorial High School at Renigunta in Tirupati on September 5 (Monday). This day holds more significance than just celebration for this school as former President of India Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan whose birthday is celebrated as Teacher’s Day across the country had studied here.
The alma mater of Radhakrishnan is now staring at a bleak future. The Pfeiffer Memorial High School was established in Tirupati in 1880 by German missionaries, but later moved to Renigunta Jeevagram in 1930.
Originally known as Hermannsburg Evangelical Lutheran Mission, the premises accommodated soldiers for two years during World War II. Radhakrishnan studied here in the late 1890s. As the first Vice-President of India, he participated in the diamond jubilee celebrations of his alma mater in 1955.
The school offering free education in Telugu medium has fallen in fame and figures over the years. The school where 1,000 students used to study in the past has 80 students now. Even as the government pays the salaries of five teachers and the students get the benefits of welfare schemes such as Amma Vodi, Gorumudda, Jagananna Vidya Kanuka, etc., the enrolment figures have hardly seen any improvement.
The number of teaching and non-teaching staff have also fallen from 25 and 10 respectively to four and one today. The school has a headmistress and a teacher each for physical education, social studies and Hindi, apart from a record assistant (non-teaching staff). They draw their salaries from the government.
“We depend on donations to fund the salaries of the teachers recruited informally to teach Telugu, mathematics (two persons), English and biology,” school headmistress J. Mary Jones told The Hindu.
The school’s alumni and local residents teach at this school for a paltry monthly pay of ₹8,000. The previous batches of students and the local parish foot the salary bill for these part-time teachers, she said.
Though the government came up with a takeover offer, the South Andhra Lutheran Mission (SALC), which manages the school, remained cold to the option as it would apparently have to lose its landholdings associated with the school. In fact, the SALC has not made any value addition to the school in decades.
