MADAM M VARKEY - SHRDDHANJALI

Wednesday, 31st March 2021

Dubai

In a statement, the Varkey family said: "It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing of Madam Mariamma Varkey ... grandmother and great-grandmother, educator, pioneer and humanitarian.

"Madam Varkey was a visionary educator who believed that every child deserved a great education. Driven by her enduring passion for teaching, and together with her husband, she built a legacy of education and learning in the UAE and beyond. This legacy will live on in the hearts of not only her family, but also every student that has passed through a Gems classroom in the past 60 years."

Mariamma, a former teacher from Kerala, India, moved to Dubai with her late husband K.S. Varkey in 1959. The couple founded Our Own English High School. In 1980, her son Sunny Varkey took over the operation of the school.

Mariamma, fondly known as Ammachi, brought about pioneering changes in Dubai’s education system. It is said many among her former students are members of the royal family in Dubai.

The family statement added: "Madam Varkey will first and foremost be warmly remembered as a beloved mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. Her humanitarian contributions focused on the learning development of girls and the advancement and recognition of teachers, with her legacy rooted in her unrelenting belief in the power of quality education to better society.

"Even after she left Kerala, India in 1959, she continued to support and serve underprivileged communities in India

I have worked for Varkey Group of Schools in Dubai (1986 -2010), at Our Own English High School, Dubai and then at Our Own High School, Al Warqa, Dubai.

It was a great experience, and major part of life spent in teaching/learning of children from 10 to 17 years, that is from middle school to senior school.

I have interacted with gem of a lady, Madam Varkey, number of times, visited during Christmas for wishing her. 

I sincerely pray for her soul to rest in eternal peace and give strength to family to bear this loss. Condolences to the family.

G S Madhav Rao Former Principal, OOHS, Dubai

My tribute to the visionary, whom I respected the most!

From the year 1993 to 2007 till I left the shores of Dubal the one bond that stayed unchanged was with Madam Varkey, the initiator of a laudable movement for building quality schools in UAE and recorded success story in modern history!

She was simple, humble and easy to converse. She had a unique way of building longstanding relationships. The then Deputy Ruler of Fujairah, Sheikh Hamad bin Saif Al Sharqi had always received Madam Varkey with warmth and reverence. The way every meeting of her with him ended only doubled my respect for her. She displayed a rugged wisdom and steel resolve in finding ways to address issues and settle amicably!

At OOEHS, Dubai she reularly arrived and walked to her office unobtrusively while smiling and reciprocating greetings! On many days, I couldn't meet her while we were on the same campus. On several occassions, I came to know that she was in school after she left. She neither disrupted my work nor demanded my presence in her office!

I always met her on work. When once I was with her, she would share her wisdom, experiences and in the process became my guide!

Mostly relationships are based on constant touch and regular communication. My connect with her is based on my reverence to her built in times when I was working near to her. Hence lack of communication didn't change that!

She kept a watch, a souvenir made to commemorate completion of 40 successful years of OOEHS, Dubai, the first school, to present it to me personally!

She was generous to the hilt. Every day there would be some one who benefited from her kindness! When I warned her of some people exploiting her generosity, she woul smile and say, 'I did what I could! I can only ask God to forgive them!"

It was perhaps a divine intervention in my life's journey to be blessed with a great human, Madam Varkey as a kindly light to show me the path to success!

Sujata joins me in bidding a tearful farewell to Madam Varkey and in prayers to God Almighty seeking Him to bestow peace and tranquility on her noble soul!

• Om Shanti!

OM SHANTHI

written Thursday, 1st April 2021