Omega - Synonym to Discipline

When I was studying in the ninth standard, my father admitted me to Omega Tuition Centre at Kochi.  Omega, run by Sri. Subramanyan Master was a popular tuition centre at Kochi.  The tagline of Omega was ‘shikshanam shikshayiloode maathram’, meaning, ‘teaching only through punishment’.  True to its tagline, Subramanyan Sir strongly believed that learning can be ensured only through strict punishment.  He had a large collection of ‘chooral’ (cane/switch), with which he used to beat the students who did not study well or misbehaved in the class.  The fear of punishment kept the students on their toes, and they all performed well in the exams.  Though the students were reluctant to join, their parents loved and preferred Omega!

There was punishment for almost everything – making mistakes in tests, not answering questions, remaining absent from the class, coming late, misbehaving, etc.  Absenteeism was not at all tolerated.  If a student remained absent, his/her parent was supposed to meet Subramanyan Sir personally and take permission.  Otherwise, there was severe punishment.  His style of giving tests was unique.  He usually gave 10-15 minutes tests.  There were close to 80 students in the class.  At the end of the test, he would ask all students to stand up.  Then he would start dictating the answer.  At any point if a student found any mistake in his/her answer paper, he/she had to immediately sit.  At the end only few would be standing.  He would go to them and check only their answer papers, because all others had already admitted that they had made mistakes.  Then he would announce, ‘all those who are sitting, please stand up and all those standing may please sit’.  He would start beating from one end of the classroom.  There was a narrow passage leading to the classroom.  At the end of each day’s class, he would stand near the passage with his ‘chooral’ and ask questions to each student and punish if they could not answer quickly.  Misbehavior and creating nuisance were never allowed.  For the first time in my life, I experienced ‘pin-drop’ silence in his class.

But it was not just the punishment that made Subramanyan Sir unique.  He was an excellent teacher who had devised wonderful means of teaching tough concepts in an easy-to-understand and memorize manner.  He used a variety of techniques like using abbreviations, narrating stories, teaching equations like nursery rhymes etc.  His techniques were aimed at making the concepts crystal clear in the minds of the students and providing easy ways of memorizing.  His style of teaching was so effective that I am able to recollect many things that he had taught me, even after three decades!  He used to teach English, Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry – the subjects which were found to be tough by the students.  Today we see exponential growth in learning apps that claim to teach tough subjects in simple ways.  But Subramanyan Sir did exactly the same, four decades ago!  If he were to be teaching today, with the aid of technology, he would have given tough competition to all these learning apps.

No doubt, the subjects taught by Subramanyan Sir helped us in passing the tenth standard with flying colours.  But, more than those subjects, he taught us some important life-lessons, without explicitly mentioning them.  He taught us the importance of discipline, hard work and dedication.  I believe, only that teacher, who is fully committed to his profession has the right to punish his students.  And Subramanyan Sir was the epitome of dedication to one’s profession.  At any point in time if a student or his/her parent was not happy with his style, he used to refund the entire fee and allow them to discontinue.  A person with a commercial bend of mind could never do that.  He never cancelled or rescheduled his classes.  More than the students, he was always committed to the parents, who had reposed their faith in him. 

Omega was closed few years ago.  Subramanyan Sir is leading a retired life at Kochi now.  Thanks to the tireless efforts of a small group of his old students, Kochi Corporation has named the street adjacent to the tuition centre as ‘Omega Road’.  The same group has taken the initiative to bring together all students of Subramanyan Sir spread across the world.  Today, the same students who were afraid of him once, are coming together to celebrate his contributions.  As a teacher, I have been immensely influenced by him.  Let me offer my ‘Pranaams’ to this great teacher and wish him good health, happiness and joy for all the years to come.