Silent homage paid to Chennai teacher

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An eerie silence gripped St Mary’s Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School on Armenian Street, Parry’s Corner on Monday, when students, teachers, non-teaching staff, members of the old students’ association, former principals, members of the Parent-Teacher Association and representatives of other Anglo Indian schools gathered for prayer services.

The people observed a minute of silence in memory of Uma Maheswari, who was murdered by a class 9 student on Thursday, and then paid floral tributes to her.

A special meeting was held for teachers that lasted almost two hours.

“I got to know a lot about Uma during the meeting. The other teachers at the meeting shared their fond memories of her,” said a teacher.

The teachers were visibly upset and were still struggling to accept that the stabbing that took place on Thursday had actually happened.

A group of parents wearing black badges met the headmaster of the school, Siby Mathew, and offered their condolences.

“I was shocked when I came to know about the incident. My son is a Class 8 student of the school and is yet to recover from the trauma. I told him this too shall pass,” said Martin.

“We parents pooled in money to help Uma Maheswari’s two daughters, Sangeetha and Janani,” said Martin, adding that his son had told him that Uma was good at organising cultural programmes.

The school management and the South India Salesian Society have contributed `5 lakh towards the education of Uma’s daughters.

St Mary’s school to resume classes today

St Mary’s Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School will resume classes from Tuesday.
“Revision tests and mid- -term exams will take place according to schedule.

Students will be given counselling and we will resume classes. A special session will be held for those classes where Uma Maheswari taught science and Hindi,” informed the school’s headmaster, Siby Mathew.

Uma, a science teacher, started teaching Hindi only after the retirement of a Hindi teacher, last year, said the headmaster. “She said she could manage. We will find a new teacher in two or three months,” he said.

The 172-year-old school has 1,726 students. Olive Bradey, who has been teaching in the school for almost 22 years, said they were shattered.

“We’re trying to get over it. Those who were closely connected with Uma have been badly affected. In the prayer service, former principals and teachers encouraged us to come to grips with the incident. The meeting was like a boost for all of us and we will resume classes from tomorrow,” she said.
“We have this Open Day where we meet parents and show them their children’s test papers.

Though a few parents ask us to beat their children, we have never encouraged it. We teach them love and we all are like a family. By God’s grace, we will be able to come to grips with this incident,” a teacher said.

Karpukarasi who came to seek admission for her son said, “We can’t blame the school for the incident. Parents should keep an eye on their children. This school is a reputed institution and I want my son to study here.”