Deivanayagam S

S. Deivanayagam (1927-2017) was the first Tamil Department Head at Singapore's first teacher's training college. He also made significant contributions to the teaching of Tamil grammar, curriculum development, coinage of Tamil technical terms, and translation.

Deivanayagam was born in India. After completing his schooling in Madurai, he earned his bachelor's degree in Commerce from Pachayappa's College, Chennai in 1949. Despite his background in Commerce, he developed a keen interest in the Tamil language and continued to improve his Tamil scholarship. He also became a student of the renowned Tamil scholar and writer M Varadarajan. 

Soon after his graduation, he began his career in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Three years later, in 1952, he moved to Singapore and started working at the Indian Bank. During this time, wanting to switch to teaching, he enrolled in the Teacher's Training College. After completing his training, he joined Monk's Hill Primary School as a teacher in 1956. He then continued as a Tamil teacher at the Tamil Language Centre based at Beatty Secondary School. Following that, he taught Commerce subjects at Outram Secondary School for five years. Subsequently, in 1963, he became the Head of Commerce Department at the Teacher's Training College. After the College was transformed into the Institute of Education (IE), he served as both Bursar (1973-1977) and Head of the Tamil Department (1973-1987) until his retirement. 

Deivanayagam's participation in the 1964 school inspector training in New Zealand under the Colombo Plan, his role as a UNESCO delegate in Sweden in 1965, and his visits to Indian universities established broad external connections. He utilised and shared the knowledge gained from these experiences about language learning, development of teaching tools, training, and evaluation in teacher training. Additionally, he collaborated with the Tamil department in developing a handbook for teaching 13 revised Tamil letters that had come into vogue then. He also played a significant role in the creation of technical terminology and translation. 

As Head of the Tamil Department at IE, he organised Tamil language and literature seminars and discussions with visiting foreign scholars. Through these initiatives, he tried to stimulate both student teachers' and Tamil teachers' passion for Tamil and their interest in learning the language. For his contributions, Deivanayagam received the Efficiency Medal from the President of Singapore in 1982. Upon his retirement after 24 years of service at IE, he also received a Long Service Award. 

At the Ministry of Education, in addition to his service in Tamil language and literature, he provided consultations in Commerce and Social Studies departments. He also offered voluntary educational services through the Adult Education Board and advisory committees of two schools. 

Even after his retirement from IE in 1987, he continued to serve the Tamil language. For four years, he served as the language resource consultant for the Tamil textbook series, developed by the Curriculum Development Institute of Singapore for students of Secondary 1 to 4. 

Deivanayagam has earned a unique place for himself as a Tamil educator, a Commerce educator, and a provider of social services.



தமிழில் வாசிக்க 

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The information in this article is valid as of August 2025 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. If you have any feedback on this article, please submit here.