"The name of Lakshmi College is very reputed. All our students go out as very competent and industrious young persons. Very importantly, after going out of here, none of the women stay at home. They are out there working for the society. Even though most women in this area would not pursue careers after marriage, students from this college do, and find their niche in the field of education. "
- Vasugi, Faculty

Established in 1967, this is a government aided residential college, functions according to the UGC rules and regulations and is affiliated to Madurai Kamaraj University. The corpus fund for this institution was given by Dr. Lakshmi Ammal, the mother of the founder Dr. T.S.Soundram, hence the name Lakshmi College of Education. The college is recognised by the Madurai Kamaraj University as a Centre for Advanced Research.

Currently, it offers B.Ed. M.Phil and Ph.D in Education. Aims at developing professionally competent and socially committed teachers working for the betterment of society. The college aims at an overall development of the students based on Gandhian ideals of simplicity, high thinking and dignity of labour.

The college takes in a total of 100 students (who come from all over Tamilnadu) every year for the B.Ed which is a one-year course here. The development of women is given primary importance, and hence the number of seats is fixed at 75 for women and 25 for men usually. 90 merit seats and 10 management quota seats are open for admission. Currently there are 82 women and 18 men residing and studying here.

The college is run by a core committee that consists of all the staff of the college.

Total staff 18, with 8 teaching Staff and 10 non-teaching staff. The Warden, 2 deputy wardens and a house mother live with the students in the college campus itself.

Cultural and community programmes are conducted every 15 days. There are several co-curricular activities that the students are involved in according to their interest and inclination - Junior Red Cross, Blood Donors Camp, Population Education Club, Community work, Leadership Training Camps, Parliament System of Functioning with monthly changes, Scouts and Guide Camps at the end of which they are awarded the Scouts and Guide Captain Certificate, etc.

They integrate themselves with the work of Gandhigram Trust through their village extension activities. Each of the units is asked to adopt one village that Gandhigram Trust is working, so as to coordinate, plan, organise events and activities for the development of that village. All students take on roles and responsibilities with the village work.

There is also a Teaching Practice that all students go through as prescribed by NCT (National Council of Teachers' Education) The students go for the teaching practice to the nearby schools for 40 days.

There are many kinds of evaluations to help them develop themselves and evolve as competent teachers like guide-teacher evaluation, self-evaluation, peer evaluation, subject instructor evaluation and so on.

Achievements
Every year since its inception, students from Lakshmi College of Education have been among the first 10 ranks in Kamaraj University.

For the last 3 years consecutively ALL first 10 ranks have been bagged by Lakshmi College students.

Students from the college bag many prizes in all inter-collegiate cultural, and sports competitions.

Under the Adopt a Village programme, students have facilitated the forming and functioning successfully of 2 SHGs in the village and are organising the third group. Many vocational training programmes are arranged for the women.

Alumni Association: Very recently the alumni association has been started.

Gurukula System has been introduced and running satisfactorily for the last 2 years. The 100 students are divided into 8-10 groups. Each group will have one teacher as the Guru, and he / she is responsible for the group and its overall well-being.

Students from the Lakshmi College are working in various organisations, institutions etc in the field of education. Some are in the Directorate of Education, Textbook Society of the State etc. Others have started their own Trusts and organisations too. Still others are School and college teachers, professors, etc.
Contact Person: Dr. Sadanantha, Principal