HUMBLE BEGINNINGS: Vivekananda ashram continues to lead the development of Tamil schools.
KUALA LUMPUR: "ARISE, awake and stop not till the goal is reached." This wise saying by Swami Vivekananda, a world-renowned Indian scholar, has been diligently followed by members of the Swami Vivekananda Ashram in Brickfields here since 1904.
The ashram was formed to commemorate the Indian spiritual leader, who visited Malaya in 1893.
Chairman Tan Sri Dr K. Ampikaipakan said since the setting up of the ashram, it was mainly focused on providing education.
"Actually, it started off as a reading group among followers.
"Looking at the demography of people in Brickfields, who were mostly Indians, the idea of opening a Tamil school came upon them," said Dr Ampikaipakan on the founding fathers of the ashram.
In 1914, the movement opened a school with 14 students. Not satisfied with that, the ashram members then set up a preschool in the 1920s, which became the nation's first Tamil kindergarten.
"It was known as the kottaai vaguppu, which literally means 'classroom in a hut' as the building was only a raised hut then."
Realising that most of the primary school students were travelling from rubber estates far away to attend school, the movement decided to build a hostel and provide meals for them in the 1950s.
As Petaling Jaya was developing in that decade, the movement also opened another Tamil primary school in Jalan Templer in 1958.
Later, it established the first and only Tamil secondary school in Malaysia, also in Brickfields.
On Thursday next week, Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin will open the new wing of SJK (T) Vivekananda Petaling Jaya.
The new four-storey building, which was built early last year, was one of the government's efforts to improve the facilities of Tamil schools in the country.
Source:NST.COM
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| A statue of Swami Vivekananda in front of his ashram in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur. Pic by Yazit Razali |
KUALA LUMPUR: "ARISE, awake and stop not till the goal is reached." This wise saying by Swami Vivekananda, a world-renowned Indian scholar, has been diligently followed by members of the Swami Vivekananda Ashram in Brickfields here since 1904.
The ashram was formed to commemorate the Indian spiritual leader, who visited Malaya in 1893.
Chairman Tan Sri Dr K. Ampikaipakan said since the setting up of the ashram, it was mainly focused on providing education.
"Actually, it started off as a reading group among followers.
"Looking at the demography of people in Brickfields, who were mostly Indians, the idea of opening a Tamil school came upon them," said Dr Ampikaipakan on the founding fathers of the ashram.
In 1914, the movement opened a school with 14 students. Not satisfied with that, the ashram members then set up a preschool in the 1920s, which became the nation's first Tamil kindergarten.
"It was known as the kottaai vaguppu, which literally means 'classroom in a hut' as the building was only a raised hut then."
Realising that most of the primary school students were travelling from rubber estates far away to attend school, the movement decided to build a hostel and provide meals for them in the 1950s.
As Petaling Jaya was developing in that decade, the movement also opened another Tamil primary school in Jalan Templer in 1958.
Later, it established the first and only Tamil secondary school in Malaysia, also in Brickfields.
On Thursday next week, Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin will open the new wing of SJK (T) Vivekananda Petaling Jaya.
The new four-storey building, which was built early last year, was one of the government's efforts to improve the facilities of Tamil schools in the country.
Source:NST.COM
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