The man who gave Bangalore its teachers

Astalwart in the field of education who built myriad institutions and selflessly toiled to give the average middle class Bangalore access to qualified teachers, updated courses and degrees: that is how Bangalore remembers the iconic late professor MPL Sastry.

On the eve of the inauguration of his birth centenary celebrations by the Mysore Education Society, students and colleagues remembered the leader who inspired them.

“No college trains you to build institutions with a strong foundation. And people who saw Prof Sastry go about building one institution after another, learnt how to do that. He was completely dedicated to enhancing the quality of education,” recollected Mathur Krishnamurthy, an academician and scholar.

“He was a sort of a saint, and stood firm for the language. He made Sanskrit compulsory at the Gandhi Nagar School,” Krishnamurthy said.

Professor Sastry, who is also said to have participated in the Independence movement, was a Sanskrit scholar and started his career as the headmaster of the Gandhi Nagar School. “He insisted that every student participated in the lessons and they brought their own dictionaries. He wouldn’t allow us inside class without it. Of course, he was full of appreciation for students who did well,” said CV Ranganath who studied under the professor in 1961 and later went to join the MES College that the professor founded. Their association lasted longer when Ranganath became a faculty member of the college’s commerce department.

Professor Sastry became the chairman of the Syndicate Committee of the erstwhile Mysore University which recommended the establishment of Bangalore University in the early 1960s. He served three terms as a member of the legislative council both before and after the integration of the state of Mysore from 1952 to 1968. “He was a man of deep conviction.

He knew the path he wanted to tread. His complicity was an endearing quality,” said Vimala Rangachar, vice-president of MES and one of the founding members of the college, the first one meant exclusively for women.

Prof Sastry was deeply interested in Carnatic music and started the MES Kalavedi for promotion of the art form as well as to give back to the people who lived in the neighbourhood.

“While building the MES group of institutions, Sastry could have used his influence to get more land, but he didn’t. When the government allowed unaided schools to collect a capital investment fee, he collected a smaller amount,” recollected KP Surendranath, president, MES, who also worked closely with the academician in the 1970s in the educational bill drafting committee. “He was a strong critic of the government. He always insisted that merit should be the criteria for selection,” he said.