NSS Training College, Ottapalam

Campus Location: Palakkad

Located in N.S.S. Training College, Ottapalam is one of the scores of educational institutions, ranging from elementary schools to Grade I colleges, owned and managed by Nair Service Society. Nair Service Society, a registered charitable society, was founded in the year 1914 by late Mannath Padmanabhan, the legendary social reformer, educationist and visionary. Today its organs or units sprawl from one end of the state to the other, and even beyond the boundaries of the state playing pivotal role in the social transformation of the state by means of the mighty tool of widespread education. Most of the N.S.S. educational institutions are in remote villages that would ever have remained obscure and unawakened had it not been for the temples of learning N.S.S. chose to establish in these areas. Chroniclers have never been slow or hesitant in acknowledging the signal role these institutions have been playing as agents of speedy progress and change with its motto, “Education for all "., The crying need for a College of Teacher Education in Palakkad District struck Mannath Padmanabhan as early as 1960, a time when such a college was absent in the entire area. Aspiring students of Education, therefore, had to move to places far from their homes, and the result was that trained teachers were hard to come by. Often schools had to recruit untrained teachers which affected adversely the standards of teaching and learning in the schools. Comparatively women were the worst affected in the absence of teacher-education facilities near their homes. Though there were plenty of girl's schools in the area, the number of women-teachers available was fewer. The opening of this institution was a boon for the women who aspired for the profession of teaching. This institution has paved for them the way to empower themselves with greater educational attainments. Thus the role that this institution has played in the development and empowerment of the women community of the state is a vital and pioneering one., Ottapalam stands on the banks of Nila, the river that meanders through the whole of South Malabar districts of Thrissur and Palakkad and Malappuram and it epitomizes the rich age old culture of Valluvanad, a geographical area that still stands untouched by the pathetic aftermaths of mindless industrial growth and wanton commercial exploitation. A paradise marked by pure serene idyllic charm, Ottapalam is also known for top diplomats like Mr. K. P. S, Menon, Scientist like Dr. M.G.K.Menon and legal luminaries and statesmen like Mr. Chettur Sankaran Nair and Mr.V.P.Menon. The very high standards of education the area maintained justified the founder's plan to set up an institution of teacher's training here., N.S.S.Training College had indeed modest beginnings as in the case of many of the great institution that we see today. It was opened in 1960, in the premises of the N.S.S.K.P.T. High School with 80 students and three teachers, one of whom was the Principal. Two years later, the college was shifted to a near by two storeyed building specially built for the college. Then its student strength was a hundred. 1965, it catered to a hundred and fifty students, and in thirty five years, its strength had doubled to reach three hundred. It now imparts teacher training in half a dozen disciplines with 27 teachers on its faculty excluding the Principal. In the development of infrastructure, UGC came to its help in 1976-1977 and the administrative block in two storeys was the result. The management built up another three storey block to accommodate the increasing number of students, in 1995. Construction of a complex, wholly funded by the management, to accommodate open air auditorium and faculty room in two storeys is also completed now. Another mile stone in the growth of the college was the commencement of M. Ed course in 1995, which raised the status of the college to a full fledged institution of teacher education., At present, the institution offers B.Ed course in six subjects viz Mathematics, Physical science, Natural science, Social science, Malayalam and English, with a total sanctioned strength of 300 students. The college also offers instruction for the Degree of Master of Education and the sanctioned strength of this course is ten. With strength of 310 students in its rolls, the institution is recognized as the biggest college of teacher education in the state. The emblem of the College consists of the symbol of N. S. S. on top left corner surrounded by a sheaf of grains showing prosperity, our motto, “THAMASO MA JYOTHIRGAMAYA”, a lighted “nilavilakku” representing the motto itself-leading one from darkness to light, an open text book showing the unlimited fund of knowledge and below which a flower of lotus in water represents the beauty of life emanating from pancha bhootha, the building constituent of this universe.. Use Google Maps for turn-by-turn driving directions to the campus.