Education

Serfoji II sets up a Devanagari press at Thanjavur

At Thanjavur, Serfoji II founded the Nava Vidya Kalasala press, the first in South India to print Devanagari.

College of Fort St. George founded

Francis Whyte Ellis founded the College of Fort St. George in Madras to train officials in South Indian languages.

Charter Act of 1813

Renewing the Company's charter, Parliament abolished its India trade monopoly, admitted missionaries and funded education.

Church Missionary Society begins work in Madras

After the Charter Act of 1813 allowed missionaries into India, the Church Missionary Society placed its first missionaries at Madras in 1814.

Birth of Tamil scholar Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai

Tamil poet and teacher Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai, later the teacher of U. V. Swaminatha Iyer, was born near Tiruchirappalli.

Ellis publishes the Dravidian Proof

Francis Whyte Ellis argued that the South Indian languages form a family separate from Sanskrit.

Madras Literary Society founded

In 1817 a learned society and library, the Madras Literary Society, was established in Madras.

LMS seminary moves to Nagercoil

Charles Mead shifted the London Missionary Society's seminary from Mylaudy to Nagercoil, where it grew into Scott Christian College.

Rhenius begins CMS mission in Tirunelveli

Church Mission Society missionary C. T. E. Rhenius arrived in Tirunelveli and built a large Protestant mission based at Palayamkottai.

First girls' school opens in Tirunelveli

The first school for girls in the Tirunelveli region was opened in 1821.

Board of Public Instruction set up in Madras

The Madras government founded a Board of Public Instruction in 1826 to oversee education in the Presidency.

Madras Medical College founded

A medical school was opened in Madras that grew into Madras Medical College, one of the oldest in Asia.

General Assembly's School, origin of Madras Christian College

Scottish missionary John Anderson opened the General Assembly's School in Madras, which grew into Madras Christian College.

Madras Preparatory School, forerunner of Presidency College

A government preparatory school opened in Madras in 1840; it grew into the High School and eventually Presidency College.

Pachaiyappa's Central Institution opens

Funded by the bequest of merchant Pachaiyappa Mudaliar, Pachaiyappa's Central Institution opened in Madras.

Jesuits found St. Joseph's College at Nagapattinam

French Jesuits opened a college at Nagapattinam that later moved to Tiruchirappalli as St. Joseph's College.

Madras School of Art founded

Surgeon Alexander Hunter founded a private art school in Madras, today's Government College of Fine Arts.

Wood's Despatch on education

Charles Wood's education despatch called for universities in the presidency towns and a graded school system across India.

Provincial School opens at Kumbakonam

A government Provincial School opened at Kumbakonam, later the Government Arts College known as the Cambridge of South India.

University of Madras founded

An act of the Legislative Council incorporated the University of Madras, among the first three modern universities in India.

University of Madras holds its first B.A. examination

The University of Madras, founded in 1857, conducted its first Bachelor of Arts examination; C. W. Damodaram Pillai was among its first candidates.

Lawrence Asylum founded at Lovedale in the Nilgiris

A Lawrence military asylum for the children of British soldiers opened at Lovedale near Ooty; it became the Lawrence School.

Agricultural school opens at Saidapet

An agricultural school was started at Saidapet, Madras, the institution that later became the agricultural college at Coimbatore.

Presidency College moves to its Marina building

Presidency College, Madras moved into its new building opposite Marina Beach, on today's Kamaraj Salai.

Senate House of the University of Madras completed

Built from 1874 to 1879 to a design by Robert Chisholm, the Senate House on the Marina was an early Indo-Saracenic landmark.

First women students admitted to Madras Medical College

Mary Scharlieb and three other women entered Madras Medical College in 1875, among the first women to study medicine in India.

Death of Shaiva reformer Arumuka Navalar

Arumuka Navalar, the Jaffna scholar who revived Shaiva Tamil learning in Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu and printed early Tamil classics, died.

American College established in Madurai

American missionaries raised their Madurai mission school to a collegiate department in 1881, creating the American College.

St. Joseph's College moves from Nagapattinam to Tiruchirappalli

St. Joseph's College, a Jesuit institution established at Nagapattinam in 1844, relocated to Tiruchirappalli.

Birth of mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan

Erode was the birthplace of Srinivasa Ramanujan, the self-taught mathematician famed for his work in number theory and infinite series.

Victoria Technical Institute opens in Madras

Marking Queen Victoria's golden jubilee, the Victoria Technical Institute opened on Pantheon Road in Egmore.

Sarah Tucker College opens in Palayamkottai

In 1895 the Sarah Tucker High School at Palayamkottai became a college, the earliest women's college in South India.

Connemara Public Library opens

The Connemara Public Library, founded in 1890 by Governor Lord Connemara, opened to the public in Madras in 1896.

Highclerc School, later Kodaikanal International School, opens

Margaret Eddy opened Highclerc School at Kodaikanal for missionary children on 1 July 1901; it became Kodaikanal International School.

Madras Veterinary College established

Housed at first in a modest building called Doblin Hall, the Madras Veterinary College opened its doors on 1 October 1903.

Congress session in Madras presided by Lalmohan Ghosh

The nineteenth Congress session met in Madras in December 1903; president Lalmohan Ghosh called for compulsory primary education.

Madras Agricultural College moves to Coimbatore

The Saidapet agricultural school moved to Coimbatore in 1906, and the Agricultural College and Research Institute opened there in 1909.

Nadar Mahajana Sangam founded

The Nadar Mahajana Sangam was formed in 1910 through the efforts of T. Ratnasamy Nadar to work for the uplift of the Nadar community.

Muthulakshmi Reddy graduates from Madras Medical College

Muthulakshmi Reddy, the first woman admitted to Madras Medical College in 1907, graduated in 1912 and became one of India's first women doctors.

Ramanujan writes to G. H. Hardy

Srinivasa Ramanujan, a clerk at the Madras Port Trust, began corresponding with G. H. Hardy, who arranged for him to travel to Cambridge in 1914.

Madras College for Women (Queen Mary's College) founded

In 1914 Dorothy de la Hey opened the Madras College for Women on the Marina, the first women's college in the city, which took the name Queen Mary's in 1917.

Women's Christian College founded in Madras

Twelve missionary societies from Britain, Canada and the USA jointly founded the Women's Christian College in Madras in 1915.

Union Mission Medical School for Women opens at Vellore

Ida Scudder began training women doctors at Vellore with the Union Mission Medical School for Women, opened in 1918.

Madras Elementary Education Act

A Madras statute made elementary schooling compulsory for both boys and girls and raised spending on primary schools.

Madras Corporation starts a school meal scheme

At a corporation school in Thousand Lights, the Madras Corporation started a breakfast scheme that foreshadowed Tamil Nadu's noon meal programmes.

Death of Srinivasa Ramanujan

The self-taught mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan died in Madras at the age of 32, a year after returning from Cambridge.

Madras University Act

A fresh Madras University Act enlarged the University of Madras's governing bodies and gave them a more representative character.

Cheranmadevi Gurukulam controversy

Separate dining for Brahmin and non-Brahmin students at a Congress-funded gurukulam at Cheranmadevi caused a major controversy.

Loyola College founded in Madras

Loyola College in Madras, affiliated to the University of Madras, was established by the French Jesuit Francis Bertram.

Andhra University established by Madras Act

After a bill carried with Tamil votes, the Madras legislature set up Andhra University for the Presidency's Telugu districts.

Annamalai University founded

Annamalai University was established at Chidambaram through the endowment of Annamalai Chettiar as a residential university.

C. V. Raman wins the Nobel Prize in Physics

C. V. Raman, a physicist born in Tiruchirappalli, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for research on light scattering.

Muthulakshmi Reddy starts Avvai Home

Muthulakshmi Reddy founded the Avvai Home in Madras to shelter and educate orphaned and destitute girls.

University of Madras completes the Tamil Lexicon

The final volume of the University of Madras Tamil Lexicon was published, completing the largest Tamil dictionary of its time.

Kalakshetra founded by Rukmini Devi Arundale

Rukmini Devi Arundale founded Kalakshetra at Adyar, Madras, an academy for Bharatanatyam and the arts.

Madras Christian College moves to Tambaram

After a century in the city centre, Madras Christian College moved to a large new campus at Tambaram.

Compulsory Hindi order withdrawn

The Governor of Madras, Lord Erskine, withdrew the order making Hindi compulsory in schools, ending the first anti-Hindi agitation.

Christian Medical College Vellore begins MBBS course

Ida Scudder's medical school at Vellore became a university-affiliated medical college and began offering the MBBS degree.

Alagappa College of Technology founded

Funded by Alagappa Chettiar, the University of Madras set up the Alagappa College of Technology for courses such as chemical engineering.

Gandhi presides over Hindi Prachar Sabha silver jubilee

Gandhi came to Madras to preside at the Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha's silver jubilee.

Defence Services Staff College re-established at Wellington

After Partition the Indian staff college was re-established at Wellington in the Nilgiris, replacing the Staff College at Quetta.

Central Electrochemical Research Institute founded at Karaikudi

A national laboratory for electrochemistry under the CSIR was founded at Karaikudi in Sivaganga district.

PSG College of Technology founded in Coimbatore

PSG and Sons Charities started an engineering college at Peelamedu, Coimbatore, on the campus of its 1926 industrial institute.

Supreme Court strikes down the Communal G.O. in Champakam Dorairajan case

Madras State's caste-based Communal Government Order on college admissions was struck down by the Supreme Court.

Rajaji's Modified Scheme of Elementary Education

Rajaji's two-shift school scheme, criticised as Kula Kalvi Thittam (hereditary education), triggered protests and was later dropped.

K. Kamaraj becomes Chief Minister

After Rajaji's resignation, K. Kamaraj became Chief Minister of Madras State and served for over nine years.

Kamaraj expands free schooling and midday meals

The Kamaraj government opened thousands of schools, extended free education and expanded free midday meals for schoolchildren.

Gandhigram Rural Institute founded near Dindigul

Following Gandhian ideas of education, G. Ramachandran and T. S. Soundaram established the Gandhigram Rural Institute.

Indian Institute of Technology Madras founded

Classes started at IIT Madras in Guindy, the third IIT, which was set up with West German help.

Regional Engineering College founded at Tiruchirappalli

The Regional Engineering College at Tiruchirappalli, now NIT Tiruchirappalli, was established jointly by the Union and state governments.

Madurai University founded

Madurai University, renamed Madurai Kamaraj University in 1978, was established as the main university of southern Tamil Nadu.

Assembly adopts the two-language policy

The Madras Legislative Assembly scrapped the three-language formula and removed Hindi from the school curriculum, adopting Tamil and English.

International Institute of Tamil Studies founded

The state government established the International Institute of Tamil Studies in Madras for research on Tamil.

SC and ST students exempted from tuition fees

A 1970 Government Order exempted Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students up to the Pre-University Course from paying tuition fees.

Tamil Nadu Agricultural University established

The Tamil Nadu Agricultural University came into existence with its headquarters in Coimbatore.

Madras Institute of Development Studies founded

Economist Malcolm Adiseshiah and Elizabeth Adiseshiah founded the Madras Institute of Development Studies.

Death of K. Kamaraj

K. Kamaraj, former Chief Minister and Congress president, died in Madras and was awarded the Bharat Ratna posthumously in 1976.

Kamaraj awarded the Bharat Ratna posthumously

Former Chief Minister K. Kamaraj, who died in October 1975, was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna.

Anna University established

Anna University was established in Madras as a technical university, named after former Chief Minister C. N. Annadurai.

Tamil University founded at Thanjavur

The Tamil University was established in Thanjavur as a research university devoted to the Tamil language and culture.

Bharathidasan University established in Tiruchirappalli

The state government established Bharathidasan University at Tiruchirappalli, named after the Tamil poet Bharathidasan.

Bharathiar University established in Coimbatore

Bharathiar University, named after the poet Subramania Bharati, was established as a state university in Coimbatore.

Nutritious Noon Meal Scheme launched

MGR's government expanded the school midday meal into a universal Nutritious Noon Meal Scheme for children across Tamil Nadu.

Mother Teresa Women's University founded at Kodaikanal

The Tamil Nadu government established Mother Teresa Women's University at Kodaikanal, a state university dedicated to women's education.

Vellore Engineering College founded, later VIT

G. Viswanathan founded Vellore Engineering College as a self-financing institution; it grew into the Vellore Institute of Technology.

DMK agitation against Navodaya schools

The DMK protested the National Policy on Education's Navodaya schools, seen as a route for Hindi imposition; the schools were not opened in Tamil Nadu.

Tamil Nadu Medical University created

Presidential assent was given to the Tamil Nadu Medical University Act; the university opened in Madras in 1988 and later took MGR's name.

Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University founded

A separate university for veterinary and animal sciences, TANUVAS, was established at Madhavaram Milk Colony in Madras.

SPIC Science Foundation founds the school that became Chennai Mathematical Institute

The SPIC Science Foundation founded a School of Mathematics in Madras, which grew into the Chennai Mathematical Institute.

Manonmaniam Sundaranar University founded at Tirunelveli

A state university for the southern districts, named after the Tamil scholar Manonmaniam Sundaranar, was established at Tirunelveli.

Chief Minister's Girl Child Protection Scheme

The state began depositing money in the names of girl children in poor families to counter gender discrimination and keep girls in school.

Free bus passes for students

The Karunanidhi government introduced free bus travel for government school and college students and half fares for private institutions.

Periyar University established at Salem

Periyar University, named after E. V. Ramasamy, was established at Salem on his birth anniversary.

Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University inaugurated

Chennai saw the inauguration of a state law university named for B. R. Ambedkar, created by a 1996 Act to place every law college under a single body.

Free bicycles for higher secondary students

Free bicycles for higher secondary students were introduced by the Jayalalithaa government, and the scheme later reached every Class 11 student.

Tamil Virtual University established

To provide internet-based Tamil learning around the world, the Tamil Nadu government created the Tamil Virtual University, now the Tamil Virtual Academy.

Tamil Nadu Open University established

Through the Tamil Nadu Open University Act, 2002, the state set up an open university in Chennai offering distance higher education.

Kumbakonam school fire

A fire at a school in Kumbakonam killed 94 children after a thatched roof caught fire, leading to new school safety rules.

Professional course admissions law and end of entrance tests

With common entrance tests abolished, a 2006 law reorganised professional course admissions and brought reservation to private colleges.

Samacheer Kalvi: uniform school education

Tamil Nadu introduced a common syllabus across state, matriculation and other school boards; the Supreme Court upheld it in 2011.

Fee support for first-generation graduates

The state announced a scholarship to pay tuition and other fees of first graduates in a family who join professional courses.

Anna Centenary Library opens in Kotturpuram

A large public library named after C. N. Annadurai opened in Chennai on his birth anniversary.

Free laptop scheme for students

Students at government and aided schools and colleges started receiving free laptops from the AIADMK government.

Death of S. Anitha and the NEET protests

Dalit student S. Anitha, who had challenged NEET in the Supreme Court, died by suicide, triggering protests across the state.

7.5 percent medical seat quota for government school students

The Governor assented to a law reserving 7.5 percent of medical seats for students who studied in government schools.

Assembly passes NEET exemption bill

The Assembly passed a bill to admit students to medical courses on Class 12 marks instead of NEET, and re-passed it after the Governor returned it.

Illam Thedi Kalvi launched

A volunteer-led programme was launched to help school children recover learning lost during COVID-19 school closures.

Naan Mudhalvan skill development scheme launched

Naan Mudhalvan, a state scheme offering students skills training and career guidance, set out to reach about 10 lakh young people annually.

Pudhumai Penn scheme for college girls

The state began paying Rs. 1,000 a month to girls from government schools who go on to higher education.

Chief Minister's Breakfast Scheme launched

Free breakfast for children in government primary schools began in Madurai and was later extended to all government primary schools.

Kalaignar Centenary Library opens in Madurai

A large state-run public library named after M. Karunanidhi was opened in Madurai.

Tamil Pudhalvan scheme for college boys

Stalin launched Rs. 1,000 a month for boys from government schools who go on to higher education, modelled on Pudhumai Penn.

Dispute over NEP, three-language policy and school funds

Tamil Nadu refused to sign the PM SHRI agreement or adopt the three-language formula, and the Union withheld Samagra Shiksha funds.

Anbu Karangal support for orphaned children

The state began paying Rs. 2,000 a month to children who have lost their parents, to support their schooling.

Ulagam Ungal Kaiyil free laptops for college students

Stalin launched a scheme to distribute 20 lakh laptops to students of government colleges, with 10 lakh in the first phase.