Tamil Teacher / தமிழ் ஆசிரியர்

Sarojanee is a Thamizhachi who has inspired generations of Tamil students. She was born to a Chinese family, then adopted by a Tamil one. Unlike her siblings, her adoptive parents could only enroll her in Saarathaa Devi School, a Tamil-medium school, for a lack of her birth documents. She learnt to love the Tamil language from her walks to school with her Tamil teacher. Since then, Sarojanee has been part of many important milestones in Tamil education in Singapore. In 1960, She was part of the pioneering batch of students at Umar Pulavar Tamil High School, the first and only Tamil-medium high school in Singapore. In 1964, she joined an early batch of Tamil language teachers trained at the Teachers’ Training College (now NIE). Sarojanee has since been teaching Tamil at Naval Base Secondary School for the past 56 years. She has always encouraged her students to participate in events, especially radio plays. She is an unwavering champion of her Normal stream students, and is especially proud to see them return as graduates. One student even donned Sarojanee in their graduation robes. She says, ‘I may not be a degree holder, but I am a graduate at heart’.