Mr. P. Venugopalavanithasan

Mr. P. Venugopalavanithasan SLEAS 111, popularly known as Venugobal, was the Principal of Hartley College from April 1997 to May 1999. A full-fledged Hartleyite he exemplified himself as a loving son of his alma mater at a time of her severe stress occasioned by the military and militant confrontations of the time.

He could serve only for two years as a promotion transferred him to the Islands Educational Zone as its Assistant Director of Education. However he left behind an indelible image in the annals of the college by uplifting the traditional high standards of the college in the curricular and co-curricular fields. His fruitful rapport with the parents, the PPAS, the SDS, the government and non government institutions coupled with his able administration underscored his achievement.

Exercising his good offices with the GTZ, a popular NGO, he completed the two storey block, named after Prof. A. Thurairajah, which remained incomplete with the ground floor since 1990 owing to the civil war conditions. He was an expert in Computer Science and took a keen interest in introducing this modern marvel to the Hartleyites. No wonder the HCPPA-NSW in Australia honored him by donating a Self Learning Computer Library to the college. Quite fittingly it has been named in his memory.

There are many innovative activities he introduced for the betterment of the Hartleyites. A few of them need special mention. In collaboration with the Methodist Girls' High school, a sister school of Hartley college, where he was once a popular teacher of Physics and Maths, Venugobal organized a successful Science Exhibition. He introduced the Australian Chemistry Quiz examination to the Hartleyites while also encouraging them to sit the Scholarship Examination conducted by the Australian High Commission. He promoted the interests of the G.C.E. A/L Science and Commerce students by helping them to publish two journals namely Thedal and Vanikavijalan.

He would have continued to help his College even as the ADE in his new station but cruel fate snuffed out his brilliant career in its prime in a gruesome fatal accident on 27.10.2004.