ABOUT US
About the school
This is the time when charity, cultural activities and education are seen only through the eyes of profit. This is a country where the government itself is teaching the state’s unaided schools to look like commercial establishments. Anand Kannasa is the owner and manager of Peyad Kannasa Mission School in Thiruvananthapuram district. Kannasa Mission High School is correcting the common perception that unaided educational institutions are mite breeding grounds. Beyond explaining textbooks and talking about the number of certificates, Kannasa Mission’s path is to train students to be good citizens.
Kannasa Mission School has pre-primary to 10th class. Kannasa Mission High School was started in 1990 by the late Tirumala S. Suseelan Nair, who was a model teacher award winner of the state government and a former councilor of Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation. Today LKG to 10th standard is imparting excellent education while taking great care to nurture the children as value conscious citizens. That is what Anand implements here through the words of Paulo Coelho. In the last eight years, Kannasa Mission High School has a hundred percent pass rate for SSLC. This year, out of 139 students who appeared for the SSLC exam, 45 passed with A plus in all subjects with a 100% pass rate. This brilliant success in the private sector in the district is also due to Kannasa.
Kannasa Mission High School comes to Anand from the hands of the father and founder of the school, Tirumala S. Suseelan Nair.
Anand is better described as a good teacher rather than a manager. Anand Kannasa, an educationist, is notable not only for the school’s excellent exam results, but also for the special projects implemented in this school through his own vision.
Fully digital classrooms
Even before the state government implemented the idea of digital classrooms, the idea was born in Anand Kannasa’s mind. Students should be able to see what the teacher is explaining on the screen. The realization that seeing is more important than hearing led to the digitization of classrooms in Kannasa. Digital classroom system using 45 inch LED TVs installed in all classrooms where the teachers of the school prepare videos themselves. This is a huge success for Kannasa alone. The videos filmed by the teachers using their own cameras are dubbed by the teachers themselves to each class.Only those necessary for the lesson are arranged and prepared and presented in the class as short films. For this, special training is given to the teachers in the school.
Most schools rely on private agencies to set up digital classrooms by paying huge sums of money and this practice is most efficient and cost-effective.
Knowledge through reading..
In the history of the state, before the government even thought about it, it was Kannasa who established a library in every classroom. Students, local writers, parents and lovers of letters arrive at the school with books to fill the cradle. Book collection was done through a separate program on Reading Day.
The school with 1507 students has a public library of more than five thousand books. Apart from this, book cages have been installed in each classroom. This project ‘One Study Room, One Library’ was launched by the school authorities in 2018 to inculcate the habit of reading in children. Bookcases in classrooms are filled with books given by students on special occasions such as birthdays, as well as books received through the Book Cradle every year on Reading Day.
Knowledge walls
All the walls of the school are designed to impart knowledge to the children. All science, social science and mathematics for them to learn are displayed in visual form with explanation. A permanent picture exhibition with explanations covering the important events of the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi from his birth to his death is organized in the school auditorium.
A schoolyard full of goodness
After excellence in the field of study, the most important scheme that marks this school is the Nanma scheme. The merits done by the children of Kannasa for the past eight years with one rupee coins will surprise anyone. It is an example for the whole society. The children here provide monthly pension to 15 needy people, such as those who are left behind by their loved ones in the twilight of life, those who are left alone, those who are in the grip of poverty, those who are sick. Kannasa plants and grows the flower trees of goodness that bring tears to the eyes of the poor.
1507 students of the school are behind the 3D project. The aim was to mold the new generation to consider other people’s sorrow as their own.
Two thousand five hundred days of goodness and still counting Kannasa family says proudly.. ”This Nanma Scheme has become a shade and coolness for the helpless and a comforting touch for many people.”
Goodness for one rupee a day. That was the monthly destitute pension scheme intended to be implemented through the children. For this, a nanma box has been installed in every classroom in Kannasa. Each student was asked to deposit a coin of one rupee daily in it. No one was forced to deposit coins, but the children saw it as their duty to deposit the coin in the Nanma box. They stopped buying candy. Those coins became the mercy of the nanma box. Earlier it was Rs 500 per month but now the pension is Rs 1000/-. Seven years ago, in the presence of the children, the founder of the school S. Suseelan Nair started the first pension distribution. 500 rupees pension was given to 20 families at that time. The amount was increased to 1000 as the children loved the Nanma project.
‘Ormakood’ History Museum
Anand’s principle is that the children of Kannasa should be the ones who draw energy from history and build the future. For that, he insists that children should know the history and culture of this country beyond textbooks. As a part of it , a collection of antique-military-domestic-agricultural items called ‘Ormakood’ has been prepared for the children. It reminds the children of the ancient days. An extensive collection of ancient agricultural household items is preserved here.
Coin Collection
The school has a large coin collection displaying coins of 100 countries and ancient coins of Travancore are also kept here one by one.
N. C. C and Red Cross
School NCC cadets have collected and displayed more than 15 gallantry medals at the school from the hands of ex-servicemen and their relatives. The photos of the jawans who donated the medals are displayed with their medal along with a brief description of their military service.
Haritakarma Sena, NCC from 2021 and Junior Red Cross from 2023 are also working in the school.
Kannasa Radio
Kannasa radio in the school is already an entertainment that has captured the hearts of children and parents. Kannasa Radio is a place where children show their talent with news, stories, poems and songs every weekday at noon.
‘ Karuthal’ Insurance Scheme
Not only in children’s studies, Kannasa School has thought about their lives too. Anand will say that the health of the parents makes the future of the children strong and as a part of that, the insurance scheme for the children and parents is being implemented here. ICICI Lombard Insurance Scheme in Kannasa provides the power of protection to students and parents. The big project ‘Karuthal’ of Kannasa Mission High School is a vision of the management so that the students of their school should not be denied treatment due to lack of money in case of an accident.
This is a completely free insurance plan covering 1507 students of the school and their parents. Perhaps a first of its kind security scheme in public schools in Kerala. Axis Bank and ICICI Lombard have organized Kannasa School Insurance scheme to provide accident cashless treatment assistance of Rs.25000 to each child in all private hospitals and financial assistance of Rs.1 lakh to the parent and child in case of serious accident.
The premium amount is paid entirely by the management.
*Know the soil and grow….Know the medicine and the tree…
Kannasa’s yard is full of herbs to warm the earth. Not only native trees such as jack fruit tree, mango tree and tamarind, there are many trees here including Simshipa, Wayyangatha, Ilanji, Kadambu, Devataru and Maroti, which have legendary and literary references. There is a Nakshatra forest and the Nakshatra trees of the 27 astrological days and a medicinal garden called ‘Agasthya Hridayam’ in the school courtyard. There are more than 100 medicinal plants here. The students themselves are the gardeners, the birds and butterflies feasting on this greenery that is blown by the medicinal wind… these sights that are fascinating to the eyes are from Kannasa Mission High School.
Local leafy plants that grow in our fields without any need of care, and posters detailing the medicinal value and nutritional value of each of these and the curative effects of adding them to curries are placed on the surrounding walls. There is another health garden in Kannasa which has been prepared with a collection of such plants.
Voice of Kannasa
In 2023, the children’s choir named ‘Voice of Kannasa ‘ started in the school. Consisting of the best singers of the school, this choir performs brilliant programs for temple festivals, church festivals and cultural events in the country. In just one season of its inaugural year, it has performed more than 20 shows and still progressing. The local people have been encouraging the children by giving them the opportunity to participate in festivals and cultural events in the places of worship.