Commemoration Day Service

The Commemoration day thanksgiving service to commemorate the 175th year celebrations of the College, got off to a grand start with the audience rising to the song "O God Our Help in Ages Past.." The Principal welcomed the host of luminaries who adorned the Anderson Hall, which included past Principals, distinguished members of the alumni and Chairman of the MCC Association Dr.Besant C Raj.

In his commemoration address that followed, Dr.Besant Raj stressed the need for helping students to think on their own rather than to disseminate information from text books. Citing the example of Harvard Business School, his alma mater, he said that, at Harvard, not even a single lecture is delivered. The whole programme is taught only through the case method, where a real business situation is brought to the classroom in the form of a case study and the students have to play the role of managers and solve the problem. Each day a student solves three such business problems. The thrust is on developing analytical skills in their students to solve business problems than to provide them a lot of information on theories of business, he added.

India's institutions including IITs and IIMs do not find a place in the list of 200 top institutions of higher learning in the world, because of the fact that most Indian institutions of higher learning see themselves as disseminators of knowledge - from text books and lecture notes. 

He also stressed on the challenge from e-education, and wanted MCC to develop courseware in e-education in several disciplines. 

Going back to the time when he was a student at MCC, he spoke of his association with Dr.Alexander Boyd, then, the principal of the College. While a student, a resident of Selaiyur Hall, he was stricken with measles, a highly contagious disease. Hence the warden moved him to the isolation ward. While even his best friends would not visit him for fear of catching the disease, Dr.Boyd would come to the isolation ward - where he was the lone occupant, every morning without fail. He would sit on a stool beside his bed and chat for at least ten minutes before leaving for his day's work. This happened on all the  20 days in which he was in isolation. This action by Dr.Boyd deeply touched him and inspired him, he said.