Celebratory mode
The St Joseph’s Indian Educational Institutions located on Vittal Mallya Road is all set to celebrate 110 years of its existence. The institutions have relentlessly transformed thousands of lives over the years.
It was started in 1904 by priests of the Paris Mission Society. They first began working out of the basement of St Joseph’s European School building on Residency Road before the management of the school was taken over in 1937 by the Society of Jesus. In 1968, the school moved to its current location on Vital Mallya Road. In the last 110 years, the institutions have had more than 50,000 students pass out.
Currently, St Joseph’s Indian Educational Institutions encompass a complete range of educational institutions such as St Joseph’s Indian Primary School, St Joseph’s Indian Middle School, St Joseph’s Indian High School, St Joseph’s Indian Composite PU College and St Joseph’s Community College.
Talking about the philosophy of the school, Fr Sunith Prabhu SJ, director St Joseph’s Indian Composite PU College and director of St Joseph’s Indian Middle School, says “We have always mentored and trained our students to be able to face the competition in the outside world. We not only prepare them academically but also to face life. There are 23 clubs in the school and every club has its unique activities that do well to mould the personality of the students,” he explains.
The education is predominantly value-oriented with a special emphasis on providing educational opportunities to the poor and the disadvantaged sections of society. Fr Gerald Furtado, principal of St Joseph’s Indian Composite PU College, says one of the biggest strengths of the institution is the importance given to sports.
“We not only give importance to academics but also to sporting activities so as to keep the students physically, emotionally and mentally active,” he shares. He also says, in addition to sports the management also stresses on every student enrolling in extra-curricular activities.
One other significant wing of the institution is Community College which was started 10 years ago. Fr Melwyn Lobo, director of Community College, states that the courses have been thoughtfully designed in keeping with the current business trends in the market.
“Our emphasis is on the character formation of students through our many programmes, giving equal importance to students, from all classes of society and the importance on sports has given us that extra edge,” explains Fr Melwyn.
The school has produced some of the best minds across the country which includes several social activists, sports personalities and politicians. The list is rather exhaustive but a few notable names among them are TV Mohandas Pai, Kumar and Madhu Bangarappa, Ashok Kheny, actor Prakash Rai, singer Rajesh Krishnan and theatre artiste Sunder Raj just to mention a few.
St Joseph’s Indian Educational Institutions will celebrate the completion of 110 years with a two-day programme on January 10 and 12.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald /Home> Supplements> Metrolife / by Nina C. George, DHNS / January 08th, 2015