John
Sahayam Chelliah, son of Mr.J.B.Thankaraj, a grand son of Rev.J.Joshua the
second Pastor of NAGERCOIL Home Church was born on 11th July, 1946, He
had his early education in Home Church Primary
School and Scott Christian High School NAGERCOIL. After graduation from
Scott Christian College, NAGERCOIL, he did his Post Graduation in Politics
and Public Administration at Madras Christian College, Tambaram.
He also passed a Post Graduate Degree in History from the
Madurai Kamaraj University. He
has secured the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Public
Enterprises from the Gulbarga University, Karnataka.
He
started his career as an English Tutor in the Pioneer Kumaraswamy College, NAGERCOIL, in the year 1969. From 1970 to 1976 he worked as
Assistant Professor of Politics in Virudhunagar Senthilkumar Nadar College. He
then joined as Lecturer in the Directorate of Distance Education of the
Madurai Kamaraj University in 1977.
He was elevated to the position of Reader in Politics in 1983. During 1993 he was appointed as Professor and Head of the
Department of Public Administration . He was appointed as the Director
in the Directorate of Distance Education in 1994, for a term of three
years. Again he was selected
as Director for the second term.
He has successfully completed his second term in January 1999. Now he is working as Professor and
Head in the Department of Public Administration of the
Madurai Kamaraj University.
He
married Canny Glory, daughter of Mr.S.Sathiadas and Mrs.Muthabaranam
Sathiadas of Trivandrum on 3rd June,
1971. She was born on 11th July, 1947. She
had her schooling in Model School and Chalai Girls High School, Trivandrum. She
studied B.A. in Women’s College, Trivandrum. She
passed M.A.in Linguistics from the University Department, Kerala, securing
second rank in the university.
Dr.John is a life member of various professional bodies like Indian
Political Science Association, Indian Public Administration Association,
Tamilnadu Academy of Political Science, Indian Distance Education
Association etc. He has
attended International Conferences on Distance Education at Lisbon (Portugal),
Hong
Kong, Dubai, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi and Singapore. During the year 1992 he attended a Christian
leadership training for four weeks at the Haggai Institute in
Singapore. He is associated with various Christian
organisations and used to give God’s Messages in the
Churches.
They are blessed with a son and a daughter. Sathia Rajeev the son is an
Engineer and the daughter named Rekha is a medical Doctor. Both are married and settled in
life. Both of them are active
members of ‘Gideon International’.
