Kasaragod: On the last day of his 33-year teaching career, P T Benny arrived at school expecting the usual retirement rituals, a shawl, a memento, a few speeches and perhaps some tears.

Instead, when the two-day farewell programme drew to a close, a brand-new Maruti Suzuki Brezza rolled into the school compound.

The headteacher of Chemnad West Government Upper Primary School did not know what to say.

For six years, Benny had spent his days worrying about classrooms, teachers, land, student enrolment and school infrastructure. Now, as he prepared to leave, parents, former students and residents of Chemnad village came together to hand him the keys to a car worth ₹13 lakh.

The gift was the village's way of thanking the man they credit with transforming their 127-year-old school, which had been forced to run classes from two nearby madrasas because of a shortage of space.

Benny, who had built a reputation for turning around struggling government schools, was not transferred to Chemnad West Government UP School. Instead, PTA members went to his house and urged him to take up the school as his next challenge.

"He had already turned around a town school in two years," said Nazar Kurickal, the then PTA president, who was part of the team that visited Benny. "He agreed to come for one year."

Benny arrived in 2019 as the headteacher in charge. Back then, Chemnad West Government UP School sat on 36 cents of land on the banks of the Chandragiri river, just 2km from Kasaragod town. Classrooms were cramped and roofed with asbestos sheets. The school had a shortage of 11 classrooms. Six classes were run from a madrasa belonging to the Chemnad Jamaat and five from the Valliya Pally Jamaat madrasa.

The school required 20 teachers but had only three regular teachers. The rest were on daily wages. Student enrollment had stagnated.

"We knew only he could fix the school," said Kurickal, who is now chairman of the School Management Committee.

What followed was six years of relentless rebuilding. Residents, parents and former students came together. So did the two Jamaat committees. At the centre of it all was Benny.

In his first year, after Benny intervened with the Kerala Public Service Commission and the education department, the school secured 25 regular teachers, easing its staffing crisis. Around the same time, the Chemnad Jamaat Committee, which had originally donated land for the school in 1899, formed a land purchase committee. Former minister and eight-time Kasaragod MLA C T Ahammed Ali, a native of Chemnad, chaired the committee, while Benny served as its treasurer.

Then came the COVID pandemic, and classes were held online.

In 2021, during the second year of the pandemic, the school organised a quiz competition in the locality. It turned out to be a huge success and significantly raised the school's profile.

"Parents wanted to admit their children here. From 550 students, we became an 850-strong school in 2022," said Benny.

The school soon began producing some of the district's best performances in scholarship examinations. It recorded the highest number of winners in the Lower Secondary Scholarship (LSS) and Upper Secondary Scholarship (USS) examinations in Kasaragod district. It also secured 11th place in the Haritha Vidyalayam reality show, organised by Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE) to promote excellence in public schools.

Success, however, brought a new challenge: space. "The government sanctioned funds through KIIFB, but we could not use them because we did not have enough land to construct buildings as per the prescribed norms," said Ameer Paloth, former Chemnad panchayat member and present PTA president.

The panchayat contributed ₹13 lakh to purchase land. But with land prices in the area touching around ₹4 lakh per cent, the committee had to find more money.

"So we went to Dubai and raised the rest," Paloth said. The school purchased 10 additional cents of land and went on to build 11 classrooms, two laboratories, a multipurpose hall, a sports room, a kitchen and a staff room. The scattered structures were replaced with a U-shaped academic block that freed up open space for children. This June, all the classes from the two madrasas were shifted to the school's own buildings.

"All that happened because Benny stood with the people," Paloth said.

Sometimes, perhaps, more than he should have.

According to Kurickal, Benny frequently dipped into his own pocket to keep projects moving. "He would start work even when funds had not arrived. Sometimes he took loans. Sometimes he spent his own money. We warned him not to do that, but he would not listen," Kurickal said.

The School Management Committee chairman revealed a detail that still troubles him. "I know there were times when he himself was struggling financially. When his daughter fell ill, he had to borrow money. But if the school needed something, he would still find a way."

Some of that money, Kurickal said, is yet to be reimbursed.

"The panchayat still owes him. One day, we may have to conduct a biriyani challenge and raise money to pay him back," he joked.

To be sure, Benny had become deeply identified with Chemnad West UP School. When he was promoted as headteacher in 2023, the promotion ordinarily would have taken him to another school. Instead, residents intervened to ensure he remained where he was.

The son of a migrant farming family from Payyavoor in Kannur district, Benny has spent the last three decades in Kasaragod. He and his wife, Biji Jacob, who is also a teacher, built their life here and raised two daughters. The family lives at Madhur Grama Panchayat. Their elder daughter is pursuing a PhD in English literature at NIT Goa, while the younger daughter, after completing her BEd, is now doing an MA in English. "Both want to be teachers like us," said Benny.

As the school's 127th anniversary approached, former students felt that a plaque and farewell speeches would not be enough.

An organising committee was formed. Contributions came from alumni, residents and parents- ₹1,000 from some, ₹2,000 or ₹5,000 from others. During the anniversary celebrations, they booked a Maruti Suzuki Brezza VXI CNG.

On May 31, Benny's final day as headteacher, the alumni had to pull some strings to ensure the vehicle was delivered to the school.

By then, the man who had come for "one year" had spent six years rebuilding a school. And when he finally drove away, the village knew he had changed their children's future for the better.