PK Sreemathy

P K Sreemathy is a politician from Kerala and a member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and was born on 4^th May 1949 in Kannur and was famous as Sreemathy Teacher. She graduated from St. Mary’s College, Sulthan Bethany in Kannur, took teachers training, and became a teacher at the age of eighteen in a UP School in Kannur.

In 1997, a conference of the Communist Party happened in Kannur, and that was the first time she participated in a political program and has been pretty inspired by the forum. From then on, she started to join other programs conducted by the party.  She started her political career as the Kannur District Council Standing Committee chairperson, and later, she moved to Thiruvananthapuram when she became the Kannur Panchayat District chairperson. She was elected to Kerala Legislative Assembly in 2001 and 2006 from Payyanur consistency and has been the Health and Family Welfare Minister of Kerala for nearly six years, from 2006 to 2011. She was the first-ever woman Minister to serve for five years;  in 2014, she won The Lok Sabha election from Kannur consistency, by defeating Indian National Congress’ K. Sudhakaran. She is also the All India Democratic women’s Association, State secretary, and Communist Party of India’s committee member.

Sreemathy Teacher got selected for the Kamala Surayya Excellence Award 2018, instituted by Kerala Kalakendrum and always roots for women and their problems. She believes that women have all the right to fight for what they want and she says that India is a place where people are aware of their rights; she encourages the youngsters to use their rights to get what they want.