Harris Sam Sahayam Lawrence

Born: 28 July 1923

Died: 21 April 2009

• He was an Indian educationalist born in Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu.
• As Special Officer for restructuring Educational Pattern in Tamil Nadu and as Director of School Education, he planned and implemented the All India 10+2+3 pattern of education in 1978.
• From 1993–1994, he was Chairman of a High-Level Committee on Vocational Education, constituted by the Government of Tamil Nadu, and solved the long-standing problem of salaries for the vocational teachers by raising it and installed a strong management structure for Vocational Education in Tamil Nadu.
• He has conferred the title of “Father of Vocational Education in Tamil Nadu”.
• He wrote his autobiography called The Hand of God My Life and Times, published in 2004.
• The State Institute of Education was founded by him in 1965 as the “academic wing” of the Education Department for research, innovations, in-service training, extension work, and publications.
• A quarterly journal in English and monthly in Tamil was also newly introduced.
• The State Institute of Education later developed into the State Council of Education, Research and Training (SCERT) and now, as the Directorate of Teacher Education, Research and Training (DTERT) with all the teacher training institutes under it.
• As Founder-Director, he had laid the proper foundations.

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