The alumni and staff of the Rajkumar College, in Rajkot, honoured the memory of legendary educator and teacher – Rati Cooper – with the unveiling of a bust carved in her likeness, on 15^th August, 2022. Over the decades, Rati Cooper taught dedicatedly and made a huge difference in the lives of thousands of students who studied under her. The ceremony commenced with various ex-students delivering touching eulogies in the College’s Bhavsinhji Hall, followed by the unveiling of the bust in the ‘Rati F. Cooper Kala Bhavan’, in the presence of over 250 people, including her students and members of erstwhile princely states of Rajkot, Muli and Lathi.

Born in Mumbai on 6^th January, 1930, Rati was the daughter of Lahore-based Framroz and Maneckbai Cooper. She attended school in Simla (Auckland House) and graduated from the Sacred Heart Convent, in Lahore, Pakistan. She was an accomplished pianist, qualifying as a Licentiate of the Trinity College of Music, London. In the late 1950’s she won a Fulbright Scholarship for studies at the State College for Teachers, New York and the Aspen Institute of Humanistic Studies, Colorado, USA.

In 1958, Rati Cooper joined the Rajkumar College, Rajkot, India, a Public School for Boys, as Headmistress of the Junior School. She would go on to dedicate a lifetime in the service of dducation at the College, ultimately assuming charge as Warden Principal in 1991. She retired as the first woman warden principal of the Rajkumar College, in 2000, after 42 years of service, and was honored with the title of Principal Emeritus. A building dedicated to activities relating to arts, crafts and Music was named, ‘The Rati F. Cooper Kala Bhavan’, in her honour.

Rati Cooper brought with her a passion for education, unadulterated affection for children, devotion to duty and commitment to her chosen vocation and respect for her seniors and rules and regulations of the College, serving as Principal Emeritus towards the end. In a fitting tribute to the great educator, one of her ex-students wrote, “We remember the amount of time and toil you have put in to prepare us to take all the challenges in our stride and carve a niche for ourselves in later life. You have taught us to take a broad view of things; of thinking with courage and acting with faith; of keeping our ideals and moral principles intact, regardless of what conditions or what kind of world we might one day be called upon to face.”

Rati Cooper passed away peacefully in Lahore, on 8th March, 2019. Her legacy lives on through the lives, successes and memories of a host of loving students, colleagues and friends.