Unit of Bala Mandir Kamaraj Trust
Mrs. Jaya Krishnaswamy
Director
Mrs. Jaya Krishnaswamy (11 December 1933 – 02 June 2023) graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Madras University and subsequently earned a Bachelor of Education in Special Education from Pune University. She holds a Master’s degree in Social Sciences from SNDT University, Mumbai, a Master of Education from Himachal Pradesh University, and a Master of Science from Madras University.
Mrs. Krishnaswamy built an impressive career in education, dedicating over 20 years to teaching at esteemed high schools in Pune and Delhi. For the last 15 years of her teaching career, she served as the Headmistress of a leading Senior High School in Delhi before taking voluntary retirement in 1988 to relocate to Chennai.Following her retirement, she actively engaged as a volunteer in an interdisciplinary team of experts focused on developing training programs for children with intellectual disability.
This initiative, launched in 1987 by Indchem Research & Development Laboratory (part of the Chennai-based Sanmar Group), resulted in the Upanayan Early Intervention Programme for children with intellectual disability, which was introduced in 1989 and authored by Mrs. Krishnaswamy In 1989, alongside her husband Air Vice Marshal V. Krishnaswamy (Retired), she established the Madhuram Narayanan Centre for Exceptional Children under the auspices of the Sanmar Group. As the Founder Director, she directed and coordinated all professional and technical aspects of the Centre, including service provision, program dissemination, outreach initiatives, and the development of new training programs until her passing in 2023.
Under her visionary leadership, the Madhuram Narayanan Centre received numerous prestigious awards for its early intervention services for children with disabilities, including the Best Social Worker Award in Disability from the Honorable Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in 2012 and the Best Institution National Award in 2004.