Chennai :

Associate professor Jayachandran’s is a story of many firsts. A first-generation graduate from an agricultural family, he was also the first visually challenged student to earn a PhD in Tamil literature at the international level. Last year, he was made the Head of Tamil department in Presidency College, the first visually challenged person to become HoD of a department in the college’s 175-year history.

The 53-year-old is the senior most professor in his department. “I was made the HoD based on my seniority,” he says modestly, while dictating notes to an assistant at his office. The furniture in his office and the infrastructure of the classrooms and the department in general seem to have been unaltered since the year the department was formed in 1856. “There are no office assistants and sanitary workers appointed and not enough financial assistance. So, we have to pay from our own pocket,” says Jayachandran.

A native of Kumalam village in Villupuram district, Jayachandran studied in Cuddalore till Class 5 and completed his schooling at the Poonamalee School for the Blind. It is here that his desire to become a professor was born.

“I had a visually challenged teacher when I was in Class 5. I thought, probably this is the line destined for people like us,” he recalls. College education at Pachayappa’s and a PhD at the University of Madras followed — he was a student of the varsity’s former vice chancellor, Professor Porko.

Jayachandran considers himself lucky, as he could not see the ‘looks’ from people who discriminated against persons with disabilities. But, his hearing sense, which works perfectly, had to bear some of the insensitive remarks. “Please don’t sit on the first bench! Feels like bad omen,” a lecturer had told him when he was a college student.

In 1990, he got his first posting at Kolanjiappar College, Virudachalam, where the students too used to take advantage of his condition. “Compared to my initial days, students at Presidency College are more cultured. They help us out,” he recalls.

Jayachandran, who had climbed the steps of The Great Wall of China in 2006, says he still has a long way to go. His interest now is to help visually challenged students with computer training. His expertise extends to the Braille teaching methods on a computer and he has also helped develop the Braille and audio division at Anna Library.

His wife, Vennila Juliet, is a teacher at a Corporation school and the couple have a daughter.

FACTOIDS

9 Visually challenged professors in Presidency College, including Dr R Jayachandran

5 Professors out of 22 are visually challenged in the Tamil department

3 Visually challenged professors in the English department and one in the History department too

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Srikanth Dhasarathy / February 24th, 2016