Suryakantbhai Chimanlal Parikh was born in the town of Patan in North Gujarat on April 23, 1922. His father was a well respected teacher and a social worker, and his mother too was a devoted social worker, who used to work for the upliftment of women.

Suryakantbhai studied in Patan and in Poona. He completed his Matriculation in 1937, his B.Sc. in 1941, his B.T. in 1946 and his M.Ed. in 1948. The same year he began his career in the educational sphere in Poona as Principal. He had a sparkling record as a teacher in Poona and was honoured by many organizations for his contribution to education.

Kantilal Chhotalal (Kanubhai), founder of Shree Palanpur Shishushala Balmandir and Education Trust (now called Vidyamandir Trust), was in search of a person who had the vision and foresight to implement his educational dreams. Shortly after Kanubhai met Suryakantbhai, he brought him to Palanpur as the Principal of Vidyamandir in the year 1959.

Suryakantbhai ushered in many innovative changes in Vidyamandir which enhanced the standard of education in Palanpur. His experiment of combining modern and traditional systems of education in a very innovative way made Vidyamandir in Palanpur famous as a modern educational institution. He promoted an education system which was child centric and believed in the holistic development of a child. He introduced an integrated system of education for normal and handicapped children. This was a novel and also very successful experiment in Palanpur by Vidyamandir Trust.

Suryakanthbai is a multi-faceted educationist. His contributions in the educational sphere brought him many awards from the central and state governments as well as NGOs too.

In 1965, he received the Best Teacher Award from the Gujarat Government. Similarly, the Central Government, in 1967 gave him a National Award for the best teacher. He was also felicitated and given awards by various organizations such as Mehsana Art & Culture Service Society and National Association of Blind of Vastrapur etc.

Mr. Parikh lives in Pune now.