Our story

Our school is situated at the heart of Thanniyam panchayath.The school was famous from the early days of modern education in cochin states. Students from Valappad,Thanniyam,Anthikkad and chazhur Panchayath studied here.Who was the first Headmaster/Headmistress of this school is still unknown.This school was first knowns as Circar A.V School.It is commonly believed that A.V means Anglo Vernacular.The first student in our school was Vazhzthodu Narayanan.He joined the school on 23rd day of 12th month in the year 1060 of Malayalam calender ie AD 1885.That year there were forty students in this school.

During June 1919 the school has been graded lower secondary standard.Emminent personalities who studied in our school participated in freedom struggle during the period 1930-40.In 1956 while Kerala state was formed,the total student strength in this school was 3500.There was only one Headmaster for the senior school which consisted lower primary,upper primary and high school standards.In 1962 the lower primary section was separated.During the period 1962 to 1972 the strength of the school was 3000-3600 students.




But 1972 onwards Govt.allowed private institutions to strat large scale English medium schools.As a result the strength of this school began to diminish.the figure 3500 declined to mere 500 students.

There were 9 divisions of 10th standard.Now it reduced to 2.In 1990 the school was upgraded as Higher Secondary School.500 students are studying under Science,Commerce and Humanitarian department in Higher Secondary section.

Highly disciplined students who have genuine academic interest,qualified and dedicated teachers and parents with co-operation are leading this school to heights of glory

 Mail from our old student

 ramankuttym@gmail.com
 
Year 1934.
M.Ramankutty, Madathil House, Pullu, Alapad P.O Trichur District joins preparatory class in Peringottokara Sircar High school after a successful course of 4 years in Pullu aided Primary School

Preparatory class was inserted between fourth class and First Form (as the fifth class was then called) to enable the malayalam medium primary school students to get acclamatised with the English education wich started in Vth class (First Form) in High Schools in the erstwhile Cochin State.  The sixth form or SSLC examination was conducted by Madras University with texts prescribed and question papers set by them.

My three elder brothers had also had education from High School Peringottukara although the 2nd from the top stoppeld with 3rd form.  The first in the list of four brothers M.Krishnan stood first in the State in English in the SSLC exam and was a Medal for this achievement.

We , the last two brothers had simultaneous study period my elder brother being one class ahead of me. He is M Appukuttan who passed in first class in 1939 SSLC. We both had schiolarships from 1st form to Vi th form though I could manage only a half fee scholarship from IVth to VI th the last 3 years.

We had Mr.Ramakrishna Iyer as class teacher in Preparatory class. His first class I remmember vivildly even now . He gave the English word Mother for amma in Malayalam and asked each one us to get up and repeat the word Moher, which most of us did nervously . But one big surprise and shock for most of us was in stoe.  When the turn for repeating the word Mother came to Chennankutty,, failed student from the previous year, he boldly shot and said " M O T H E R, mother" and triumphantly sat down with a condescending look at all of us in the class. We were struck with awe and admiration at the knowledgeable Chennankutty. After the class, Chennankutty was besieged with his classmates seeking friendship with him.  But alas, suffice it to say, as the classes progressed, this charisma of Chennankutty died down and he faded away from our memory.

Mr.Dharmaraja Iyer who vociferously conducted the 1st class accross the courtyard from our lpreparatory class, was an interesting personaliity. His continous shouts to the bundles of mirth, to keep the tiny tots from spilling into the courtyard, "go to your place","less noice " accompanied by strikes of his cane on the table was very interesting. His frequent calls for the aid of the class monior KALYANI, in keeping some sort of discipline in the class was well appreciated.  Dharmu had a side business on the sly. He prepared coffee in the class room during the lunch interval and supplied fo all the teachers who had been surviving with some packed food brought from home. Most of them belonged to the Iyer community and had meals in the morning and Dharmu's coffee was quite welcome, on payment of course.  I remember that along the years, Dharmarraja Iyer had named his class monior KALYANI though the school register had otherl names. And these Kalyanis helped our Dharmu by gathering firewood for the coffee making and was earned the gratitude of Dharmu.

During the period I was in the School, very famous and competent teachers adorned the faculty. To start with we had Menokaimal Vasudevan Unnithan as Malayalam Pundit, who was a well known figure in the literary field , who wrote among others, the Novel, Mugdharagam in two volumes which was a beautilful translation of the famour novel THE WRECK by Sri Ravindranatha Tagore. Those were days of translation, and our school library had a good stock of them, books authored by Sarat Chandra Chatterjee, Bankim Chandra Upodhyaya. I had,  with under cover collaborlation of school clerk, one Mr.Nambiyar , access to these and other English Novels, like IVNHOE and other classils.  I confess that such access had helped me ivery much.
We had also Mr.Ullattil Sankarankutty Nair, the author of CHITHRASLABHA SANDESAM  a famous Sandesa kavya in the steps of Mayura Sandesam of Raja Raja Varma, all following the classis Megha Sandesa of Kalidasan.

I had chosen Sanskrit as my second language as a family tradition as all brothers before me had taken Sanskrit.  I could not say, the passage through sanskrit classes was very smooth. Our Sanskrit Pandit Mr.Sreedharan Namboothiri, was strict disciplinarian and would want each one of us , to know the prose order, delension of each and every word. My friend Balakrishnan sone of a Police constable in Anthikad police station was absolutely non plusesd in the ocean of nama linga, avyaya, parasmaipaid and almanaikpadi etc etc and bore the brunt of the wrath of Namboothiri Pandit. This Pandit had a novel way of meeting out punishment to erring ones.  He brought a small pile of sand taken from the courtyard and kept at the corner of the table in open view of all the students and when an error occurred in the declention , he called the student to his side , took a pinch of sand from the pile, and screwed the flesh on his thigh till the recepient howled at a high decibel. Often blood smears were seen on the clothes of the recepient. Balakrishnan, the whipping boy would have happily shifted to Malayalam class , but for much more aggressive punishment threated by his father, who was an ardent follower of Sanskrit, the reasons for which, poor Balakrishnan had no idea. Mr. Namboothiri mellowed a little before his retirement and we had covertly celebrated his departure though we dutifully attended the send off function and speakers therein eulogised Mr.Namboothiri.

Then comes Mr.Pisharodi, truly a man iof the masses.  He introduced us into the wonderful world of literature. He told us of Uddannasastrgal, Kakkasseri Bhattathiri and beautiful enjoyable anecdotes about the poems and poets of the past and present. Mr Pilsharodi was not overconcerned about Vibhakti, gave us questions and their answers and in between led us slowly in the Vyakaranam, Alankaram areas just as a picnic journey and many of us enjoyed it. Many slokas outside the texts became known to us . Glory to Mr. Pishradi and his ilk

We had the redoubtable Mr.P>H Rama Iyer who was capable of handling any subject and N.S.Subramania Iyer who was a post graduate . A  great man with a great fund of knowledge. The only defect we noticed his tendency of calling the erring student and slapping him on his face. My frilend Kuamaran overcame this condition when he covered his cheek with both his hand before the slap ceme. Mr.Iyer asked Kumaran why he is covering his cheek when he came to the table. Kumaran non challantly replied that he was trying to prevent the oncoming slap landing on his cheek. Mr.Iyer was bemused and stopped this unhealthy practice much to the merriment of the class.

We had Mr.Venkigtakrishna Iyer, our maths teacher, who , much to our dismay, knew everything byheart. Theroms, Riders, formulas etc just flowed from his mouth without even a glilmpse to the text book. Most of us had our mouths wide open during the class.  We had Kavunni Kartha agailn a master of all subjects and preferred to sit with us in the class rather than occupy his chair..

We had Mr.C C Mathew and Oxford University Post Graduate as our Head Master in the beginnig when I joined Peringottukara.    Fully dressed in coat suit and tie, entire school felll silent when he came to the school and took round  through the verandas of the class rooms. The sound  his shoes striking the tiled floor sent a shifer through the classes. He was  such a displinarian.  Then came Sri Appu Iyer, N S Plarameswara Iyerl.

Mss V.K.Dakshayani amma, the first gradate from harijan community, joined our school on first appointment as teacher. It is history that the teacher latered entered politics and was an MLA iln Cochin Legislative Assembly.

We had sportsmen of value, Veeravu a hope step and jump medalist, Sreedharan a pillar in our volley ball team.team leaders like Pulilckal Bhaskaran , Cheloor  Nraryaan Kutty from Anthikad, Cherthedeth Balan and Manoharan from Thriprayar, Paul George from Nadakkalan family, Karanchira etc etc.

Memory is failing at this age of 89 yrs.  Ihis msg has been long. I have written what came to my mind now. I know a lot more is to be written. Later , if there is a chance. Bye for the present. Ramankutty ;M.