A. Sankarapandian, the Physical Director of Sevalaya’sMahakavi Bharathiyar Higher Secondary School since 2003, is proud of his work in Sevalaya. His contribution is much more than that of a normal school Physical Director. His daily routine starts with prayer for the hostel children in the morning at 5.30, then their Yoga practice till 7. After that he returns to the school and helps in student’s assembly and regular physical education class.
In the middle of his work as teaching staff, he is pulled out to be the guide to donors when they visit Sevalaya. Donors who come to the campus are taken round the campus to understand the activities of Sevalaya. Sankarapandian is popular with the donors since he patiently explains each and every small detail. “I want the donors to understand how Sevalaya was started , what Sevalaya is and its activities so that when they leave Sevalaya they know the best way to be of help to Sevalaya”.
Anupriya Suresh, the campus coordinator in the office recalls an incident ”Once a donor visited the Sevalaya campus and said that he wanted to meet Shankar. I told him there was no staff by that name and offered to help in whatever way I can but the donor was very stubborn and said that he wanted to talk to Shankar only. I did not know what to do and then I suddenly realized he was referring to Sankarapandian. The minute Sankarapandian came into the office, the donor got excited and started talking to him as if he were a close relative of his.
Impact
This is the great impact that Sankarapandian has on the donors. He says: “ Sevalaya is the place which gives me full happiness and I’m extremely satisfied with the work that I am doing. I can see the good impact this organization has on the development of the villages . That is what makes me want to stay with this organization”.
He is a very motivating person by nature. This motivation has made many of the children to show much interest in sports and has brought laurels to the school in district level too. Without even a basketball court he had trained girls for basketball and made the team good enough to reach the district level competitions. This is the spirit that Sankarapandian shows on sports.
Sankarapandian got a Government job few years back in a School as Physical Education Teacher in his home town Sankarankoil. He served there for 1 1/2 years and left the job for lack of job satisfaction. He says “ There was no job satisfaction and it was very monotonous. Hence I left the job.”
This personality always remains in the minds of everyone and when a donor comes to the office, eveyone remembers “PT SIR”.
