Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School is a school in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, in the southern city of

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

. Founded in 1956 by

M. Subbaraya Aiyar M. Subbaraya Aiyar (1885–1963) was a prominent income tax lawyer and philanthropist born in Marayur, Tanjore District in the old Madras Presidency. He started from humble beginnings in the village of Marayur and moved to Chennai as a small boy ...

, R. S. Subbalakshmi and Padmini Chari, the school recently celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2016. It follows the

Central Board of Secondary Education The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is a national level board of education in India for public and private schools, controlled and managed by the Government of India. Established in 1929 by a resolution of the government, the Board ...

(CBSE) pattern of education with the medium of instruction being English. With just a handful of boys in 1956, studying at the Mylapore Ladies' Club premises, the school now has about 2200 students, 119 teachers, three school buildings in the same location and a branch called VidyaMandir located inside the Estancia Township on GST Road, Vallancheri.

History

The MLC School Society (Mylapore Ladies’ Club) established a Kindergarten Section on 3 February 1956 to accommodate the boys in Mylapore and its environs. The first president of the society was R. S. Subbalakshmi, supported by

, a leading lawyer, and Mrs. Padmini Chari who was an educationist. Thus the school was born through the efforts of these three, and Vidya Mandir Matriculation School was formally opened in 1960. R. S. Subbalakshmi and Mrs V.K.T Chari served as the Founder President and School Correspondent respectively.

became the Secretary of the school. In 1960, once the school was formally opened as a boys school, the first batch of students took the exam. In 1963 a small building was constructed and the matriculation section was opened. The school followed the matriculation system until 1975 when it became affiliated with the

(CBSE). 1978 was a significant year as the first batch of students took the 10th Standard examination and the school became a

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

school. In 1981, to commemorate the 25th year, a Silver Jubilee Kindergarten Block was constructed. In 1989, the school established a branch school located in

Gandhi Nagar, Chennai Gandhi Nagar is a neighbourhood in Adyar, in the south eastern part of the Indian city of Chennai. It is bordered by the Adyar River, Kasturba Nagar, Kotturpuram, Indira Nagar and the Buckingham canal. Today Gandhi Nagar is a commercial hot s ...

which later became an independent school called Bala Vidya Mandir. In 1993, a new primary block was constructed and in 1997 a new administrative block was constructed. In 2001, a new open air theatre was built to host the school cultural activities and other school events and a library was built in the same year. In 2010 the school introduced a filing system and shifted to a two term year from a three term year as prescribed by the CBSE. Vidya Mandir @estancia is a branch of Vidya Mandir, Mylapore. It was inaugurated on June 11, 2009 by Dr.K.Kasthurirangan (former MP and member ISRO), in the presence of students, staff, parents and well wishers. It is situated inside the Township on GST Road, Vallanchery.Estancia Township on GST Road, Vallanchery. It is spread over two sprawling campuses on either side of the private road inside the Estancia Township. Classes LKG to 5 operate in the old campus and classes 6 to 12 operate in the new campus. Both buildings house airy, spacious classrooms and several courts and areas for free play. The total built up area is 1,40,000 sq ft.

School Activities

Events

The school hosts a variety of cultural and educational events annually. Some of the events are * Entre-Nous (Inter-Class cultural event) * Reflections (Inter-School cultural event) * Inter-House Dramatics (House-wise dramatic presentations) * School Day * Sports Day * Fun-Fest * Project Day

Clubs

The school has a number of clubs that the students can participate in such as Martial Arts, Mathematics Music, Environment, Commerce, Reading, Trekking, Study Circles.

Notable alumni

Sports

Krishnamachari Srikkanth Krishnamachari Srikkanth (born 21 December 1959), also known as Cheeka, is a former captain of the Indian cricket team and former chairman of the selection committee. He played a crucial part in India's team batting line up as opener espec ...

Laxman Sivaramakrishnan Laxman Sivaramakrishnan (born 31 December 1965), popularly known as "''Siva''" and LS, is a former Indian cricketer and current cricket commentator. During his playing career, he was a right arm leg-spinner. Sivaramakrishnan began his commenta ...

* Sadagopan Ramesh *

Ramesh Krishnan Ramesh Krishnan (born 5 June 1961) is a tennis coach and former professional tennis player from India. As a junior player in the late 1970s, he won the singles titles at both, Wimbledon and the French Open. He went on to reach three Grand Sla ...

Abhinav Mukund Abhinav Mukund (; born 6 January 1990) is an Indian cricketer who plays domestic cricket for Tamil Nadu. He has played for India in seven Test matches. He has captained Tamil Nadu and India A on several occasions. He was a member of Chennai Su ...

*Bhargav Sri Prakash

Arts

Mani Ratnam Gopala Ratnam Subramaniam (born 2 June 1956), known professionally as Mani Ratnam, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer who predominantly works in Tamil cinema and few Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films. Ratnam has won six Nat ...

G. Venkateswaran G. Venkateswaran (died 3 May 2003), popularly known as G.V., was an Indian film producer and chartered accountant. He was the elder brother of director and screenwriter Mani Ratnam and G. Srinivasan. Venkateswaran was the promoter of GV Films, ...

P C Sreeram P. C. Sreeram ISC (born 26 January 1956) is an Indian cinematographer and film director who works in Indian films. He is also the president of Qube Cinemas, a digital cinema technology company. He is an alumnus of the Madras Film Institute. Ap ...

Mohan Raman Mohan Raman, also known as Mohan V. Ram (born 3 April 1956), is an Indian actor and writer. In 2017 and 2019, he was a Jury member for the National Film Award for Best Writing on Cinema. Raman is a film historian and writes for ''The Hindu''. He ...

* Shashank *

Sanjay Subrahmanyan Sanjay Subrahmanyan (born 21 January 1968 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu) is a Carnatic vocalist from India. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 2015. Biography Sanjay Subrahmanyan was born on 21 January 1968 in Chennai ...

Rithvik Raja Rithvik Raja (born 9 March 1989) is a Carnatic Musician (South Indian Classical Music) from India. He has performed in concerts in India and overseas. Since January 2016, Rithvik is married to Bharatanatyam artiste Shweta Prachande. Early lif ...

Sikkil Gurucharan . In 2020, he acted in a tamil anthology film, Putham Pudhu Kaalai. Early life Around 1987, as a 5-year-old, Gurucharan was casually coaxed by his grandmothers, the Sikkil Sisters, to sing some tune. After a little cajoling, he sang a popular f ...

Anil Srinivasan Anil Srinivasan (born 3 June 1977) is an Indian pianist. Born in Chennai, India and educated at the University of Southern California and at Columbia University, New York, he is well known for his collaborative work with Carnatic vocalist Sik ...

Karthik Kumar Karthik Kumar (born 21 November 1977) is an Indian stand-up comedian and actor in the Tamil film and television industries. Biography He studied chemical engineering in Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering. After earning his Bachelor' ...

Venkat Prabhu Venkat Kumar Gangai Amaren (born 7 November 1975), better known by his stage name Venkat Prabhu, is an Indian filmmaker, actor and playback singer in Tamil films. After completing his education, he began pursuing an acting career, with his first ...

Vikram Prabhu Vikram Prabhu is an Indian actor working in Tamil language films who made his debut in Prabhu Solomon's '' Kumki'' (2012). He also played the protagonist in ''Ivan Veramathiri'' (2013) and ''Vellaikaara Durai'' (2014). He is the son of actor Pr ...

Mathivanan Rajendran Mathivanan Rajendran (born 12 January) is an Indian actor and film producer. He produces films under his production company, Stray Factory which produces independent Indian films. Most recent productions include ''Nirvana Inn'' (2019) and ''Na ...

* Aravind Subramanian * Ambashish Pandey *

Vidyullekha Raman Vidyullekha Raman (born 4 November 1991), also known as Vidyu Raman, is an Indian actress and comedienne who appears in Tamil and Telugu films. The daughter of actor Mohan Raman, Vidyullekha made her debut in Gautham Vasudev Menon's 2012 ''Neet ...

Business

Motto

The motto of Vidya Mandir is "Saha Veeryam Karavavahai" which means "Let the student and teacher perform great acts of strength together".

References

Timeline
# https://www.vidyamandirestancia.com {{Education in Tamil Nadu High schools and secondary schools in Chennai Educational institutions established in 1956 1956 establishments in Madras State