Founder Chairman
The Bhaktavatsalam Educational Trust with Thiru.O.V.Alagesan, a great patriot and an ardent follower of Gandhian Ideals as its Founder President established the Bhaktavatsalam Polytechnic, now rechristined as Bhaktavatsalam Polytechnic College at Kanchipuram in the year 1958 to fulfil the long-felt desire of the public to have a technical education in Kanchipuram district.
The Institution which was inaugurated on 27th July,1958 by Thiru C.Subramaniam, the then Education Minister of Tamil Nadu Government under the presidentship of Thiru. K. Kamaraj, the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu was aptly named after Thiru. M. Bhaktavatsalam, former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu as a token of his selfless service to our country and Tamil Nadu in particular.
Many people, known to Sri. Alagesan, mostly people from the parliamentary constituency of Chengalpattu used to seek his help in finding suitable jobs for their sons. Though he wanted to help them and did so, he realized that the young men who were seeking employment would be able to help themselves, if they had the kind of qualifications, the job market was looking for. This realization led him to start a polytechnic at Kancheepuram which also was named by him after Sri Bhaktavatsalam. The Bhaktavatsalam Polytechnic was started in the year 1959 under the Aided Scheme of the State Government with a sanctioned intake of 120. The Polytechnic which was started in a rented building soon moved to spacious buildings of its own at Karaipettai on the outskirts of Kancheepuram. The Polytechnic today has a strength of 1600 students and consistently produces results of near 100% in all Branches of Engineering.
Sri. Alagesan also found that the children of rural areas were not getting quality education and thereby were missing out on opportunities as compared to their urban counterparts. This was more so in the case of girls. He wanted to do something to rectify this situation. His task was made easy by the generosity of Sri.C.N. Varadappan, scion of the Pettai Zamin family who donated land for the purpose of starting a Girls School in Poonamallee. This was in the year 1960. The Sarojini Varadappan Girls School was started by the B.E. Trust at Poonamallee. The school now has a strength of over 2000 girls. Sri. Alagesan also found that elite Public Schools of those days were exclusive and unless one was very wealthy or highly connected, admission was hard to get. He set about trying to rectify this situation by starting the Brindavan Public School at Coonoor under the auspices of the Trust in an old tea factory with 13 students. Soon, the school was a challenge to all the elite schools in the Nilgiris be it in academics or games or sports. The school now has all the modern facilities. The Brindavan Public School in Coonoor, started in 1968 was followed by the Brindavan Public School, Athur in 1974. In the interim period, Sri. Alagesan, a deeply religious person also started a Veda Padasala in Thirukkalukundram and an Agama Padasala in his native village of Ozhalur.