Ahalya Chari | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1921 Rangoon, Burma |
| Died | 30 March 2013 (2013-03-31) (aged 92) Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Resting place | Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India 28°33′27″N77°09′32″E / 28.5574°N 77.159°E /28.5574; 77.159 |
| Occupation | Educationist |
| Years active | 1943–2013 |
| Known for | Education in India |
| Parent(s) | Rajalakshmi Chari and Kasturi Rajagopal Chari |
| Awards | Padma Shri |
Ahalya Chari (1921-30 March 2013) was an Indian educationist[1][2] and the first commissioner of theKendriya Vidyalaya chain of schools, a system of education under theMinistry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) India.[3] Her efforts are recognised towards the establishment ofKendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan,[3] an autonomous body under the MHRD, attending to the educational needs of the children of transferablecentral government employees.[4] TheGovernment of India awarded her the fourth highest Indian civilian honour of thePadma Shri in 1983.[5]
Ahalya Chari was born in 1921 inRangoon, the capital ofBritish Burma,[6] to Rajalakshmi Chari and Kasturi Rajagopal Chari as the eldest of their seven children.[7] She did her schooling at a girl's convent school run under the British curriculum and graduated from theUniversity of Rangoon in English Literature in 1941. TheSecond World War forced her family to leave Burma and the family fled toBenares, stopping over at a refugee camp atShwebo andCalcutta on the way. Settling in Benares, she did her master's degree atBenaras Hindu University and started her career in 1943[8] as a lecturer at theVasanta College for Women,[9] where she worked for 10 years.[3][6]
In 1951, Chari resigned from the Vasanta College and moved to Delhi to join theDepartment of Education – University of Delhi, formerly known as the Central Institute of Education (CIE),[9][10] as a student for advanced training in education.[9] At this time, she received a Fulbright Scholarship for further studies in the United States where she spent two years and returned to CIE in 1953[9] as a member of the faculty.[3] When the government decided to set up an apex institution for education with assistance fromUSAID by hiring consultants fromColumbia University, Chari was delegated to the project and was involved with the establishment of the National Institute of Education (NIE) in 1961.[9] After the establishment of the institution, she trained for one year in Applied Linguistics (1961–62) at theUniversity of Edinburgh. On her return to India in 1962, she was appointed as the head of the textbooks department at NCERT, a job she held till 1969.[3][6] During her time at NCERT, she launched a 'Reading Project' and prepared read-ready materials for inculcating reading habits in children and was instrumental in redesigning the school syllabi.[8] When NCERT started four regional centres of education atAjmer,Bhopal,Bhubaneswar andRegional Institute of Education (Mysore),[11] she was appointed as the principal of theRegional Institute of Education, Mysore.[3][12]
In the early 1960s, theMinistry of Human Resource Development established theCentral School system and placed the chain of schools under the administration of a central office, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS), with Chari as the first commissioner of the central administrative office.[3] She worked with KVS till 1976 when she came under the influence ofJiddu Krishnamurti[13] and joined the Indian philosopher to work at the Rajghat Education Centre in Varanasi.[3] Her next move was to Madras (now Chennai) in 1982 as the principal of The School,[8] one of the schools of the Krishnamurti Foundation of India (KFI).[13] At The School, KFI, she worked against commercialisation of education and initiated projects such as implementation of the government'sRight to Education Act, introduction of integrated educational programmes[12] and initiation of the open school system.[13]
Chari continued her association with the KFI institutions[8] and established an Alumni Forum of The School for exchange of information.[3][12] She stayed a few years at the campus of the Theosophical Society in Adyar, Chennai, invited byRadha Burnier. After that she stayed in Vasant Vihar inChennai, where the headquarters of theKrishnamurti Foundation of India is located,[14] and served as a trustee of the foundation.[6] She started theJournal of the Krishnamurti Schools[12] and edited them for a number of years.[15][16] She also published two books,Thinking Together,[17] published by theNational Council of Educational Research and Training in 1997 (in Hindi and English),[18] andSelections from the Decades: On Self-Knowledge, published by KFI in 2001.[19] She also delivered lectures[2] including one on 'Knowledge and the Disciplines'.[12] TheGovernment of India awarded her the civilian honour ofPadma Shri in 1983.[5]
Chari died on 30 March 2013 at the age of 91 inChennai, Tamil Nadu.[3][20]
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