King’s Matriculation School Mrs. Vatsala Vijayakumar, Principal, Retirement
Vision Statement
King’s Matriculation School was established with the vision of uplifting the disadvantaged children living in Kondanagaram and nearby communities by providing them with a high quality education and inculcating in them disciple, life skills and Christian values.
Mission Statement
The mission of King’s Matriculation School (KMS) is to educate the whole child intellectually, spiritually and socially by providing them with nourishing academics in a nurturing Christian environment where the management, the faculty, the students and the parents are in partnership. The students are motivated towards enveloping the Nine Golden Virtues – Love, Joy, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Humility and Self-control – which will guide them all through their professional and personal lives.
King’s Matriculation School and Global Ministries
In 2009, Ms. Vatsala Vijayakumar had a six-week stay to the United States as a Global Ministries Missionary in Residence. During her visit in Cleveland she spoke with the Child Sponsorship Manager and the Southern Asia area executive about Global Ministries becoming involved with providing assistance to children and families in the surrounding communities that attended King’s Matriculation School (KMS). In 1984 the school was started with nine students by the late Dr. Pauline E. King under the name of King’s Convent. Dr. King wanted to improve the quality of learning from trained teachers. In 1988, the school was renamed King’s Matriculation School. Providing an education to children of families that have little to nothing is a compassionate action that Dr. Pauline King and Mrs. Vijayakumar were apart of many years ago and today God has multiplied this blessing under Vatsala’ s leadership.
In India many children want to attend school but their families cannot afford to send them and if so, girls are generally the last in the family to have the opportunity for schooling and many times over the years some children, girls and boys had to drop out because their families could not afford the cost. Education in India is mostly provided by the government; however, the various school systems suffer from challenges such as being overcrowded, absent teachers, under trained teachers, high rates of drop outs, unsanitary conditions and inadequate furnishing. Over the years as education has been seen in a more essential role, parents have turned to private schooling. Currently, KMS has more than 825 children enrolled which includes residential children of the Family Village Farm, staff children of Christian Medical College Hospital and 47 surrounding communities.
A few months ago, Global Ministries learned that Vatsala was preparing for her retirement as KMS Higher Secondary School Principal in May 2016. For the past two years she has been training her replacement the senior vice principal, Mrs. Anna Revathi. Global Ministries Child Sponsorship staff asked her to share some of her thoughts as she looks back over what she has witnessed, shared, and contributed to during her years as part of the King’s Matriculation School staff family. Under Mrs. Vatsalar’s leadership and commitment there have been countless academic accomplishments by the students and the size of the school’s facilities has grown enormously.
Helping children to have a better life has always been one of her goals to the children and families in Vellore. As she makes plans for her retirement she has one ongoing long term wish that she will need the help of others to ensure her dream comes true.
To her dear friends in her community, in India and aboard it is her dream that continued financial support will be provided to students living in the various communities that wish to continue their education at KMS. These children are students attending the school from families that cannot afford to pay their tuition. Please honor her years of teaching and as principal of King’s Matriculation School by supporting a Day School Student through the Global Ministries Child and Elder Sponsorship Program. Your support will keep a child in school and provide a hot meal each day to the student during the school year.
The cost is $300 annually and just like the residential program children; you will receive letters from your sponsored students and sponsors can write to them as well. She stated that many of these children and their families will not survive in the future without a proper education. Your support will strengthen and further shape the future of these needy children in Vellore. Help Mrs. Vatsala’ s dream come true by contacting the Global Ministries Child and Elder Sponsorship office (childsponsorship@ucc.org or 866-822-8224, ext. 3222) and agreeing to sponsor a student at King’s Matriculation School. Thank you!