Namdeo Dattatreya Kadam, decided to give the money from his savings to the university rather than to a temple or a charitable institute.
Deeply touched by the manner in which his late wife ran the house on his small income, an 88-year-old retired primary teacher from Kolhapur has donated Rs5 lakh in her memory to the Shivaji University.
In keeping with his wife’s and his family’s emphasis on education the retired teacher, Namdeo Dattatreya Kadam, decided to give the money from his savings to the university rather than to a temple or a charitable institute.
“She took immense pains for the family. She gave a lot of emphasis on education of our children, although she was just IV standard pass,” he said with misty eyes. Kadam said that when he retired he was receiving a salary of Rs300, while he is now getting a pension of Rs7,000.
“I can’t imagine how my wife managed to run the house with my meagre earning,” he said.
Hailing from the backward cobbler community, Kadam’s father, grandfather and great grandfather were primary school teachers. The previous generations had given considerable emphasis on education, he said.
Running his family footwear shop in Shivaji Chowk area in Kolhapur, Kadam said that in the days before her death on
February 15, his wife, Shrimanti, 67, had wished to leave behind something for society.
“After her death, I thought of many options like donating to a temple or some charitable institutes. However, I finally decided to donate the amount to the university, which will benefit students,” Kadam told DNA.
After securing his diploma in education in 1944, Kadam worked as a teacher in various schools of the Kolhapur Municipal Corporation (KMC). He left his job in 1971 from the civic body’s Dattajirao Mane School after a dispute with a member on the school board.
In 1956, he married Shrimanti who had studied up to the IV standard. “I saw her in the morning and tied the knot in the afternoon. The marriage cost my family Rs47,” Kadam recalled.
Kadam’s four married daughters, son Pandurang, who is pursuing an MBBS and elder son art graduate Rajendra were present at the university on February 15 when the donation was being made.
“Strictly speaking, as a retired primary teacher I am not connected with the university. However, I am proud of Shivaji University, which has spread education in rural areas,” he told DNA.
A source in the university told DNA, the money would be used as a corpus to give prizes to meritorious students. “Big industrial houses and wealthy people can donate lakhs of rupees. But
Rs5 lakh is a big amount for a retired primary teacher,” he said.
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