![\"DOWN](\"http:\/\/www.bangalorefirst.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/CarmelitesBF04may2018.jpg\")
<\/a>As the order prepares to kick off its sesquicentennial celebrations (150 years) with an event in Bengaluru on May 5, those now in charge look back with pride on the long and difficult road they have travelled. Sr Lydia Fernandes, general councillor, Apostolic Carmel, revealed the literacy rate on the west coast was abysmally low when they first started out.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe work of the Carmelite sisters in starting institutions for girl children years ago has helped increase the literacy rate in coastal Karnataka,\u201d says Sr Fernandes. \u201cSt Ann\u2019s school was the first to be established in Mangaluru in 1870.\u201d<\/p>\n
The order was founded in the latter half of the 19th century by Mother Veronica\u00a0of the Passion (born Sophie Leeves), daughter of an Anglican minister at the British embassy in Constantinople. \u201cShe recognized the need to have quality schools for illiterate girls in India,\u201d said Sr Mary Susheela, superior general of the Apostolic Carmel.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe founded the active Carmelite order, in Bayonne, France and trained sisters who were sent to India,\u201d added Sr Susheela. \u201cThey didn\u2019t know the local language, but children picked up the teacher\u2019s language quickly. We have taught children from all communities.\u201d<\/p>\n
St Ann\u2019s counts Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, freedom fighter and social reformer, Octavia Albuquerque, former MLC, Philomena Peres, former chairperson of the Women\u2019s Commission, and Margaret Alva, former Rajasthan governor and senior Congress politician.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were taught everything from needlework and gardening to debating and acting,\u201d said Alva. \u201cThey were very good educators, taught us discipline and imparted a strong sense of nationalism. At that time, the students were very diverse and from different communities. But we never had a problem getting along.\u201d<\/p>\n
source: http:\/\/www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com \/ The Times of India \/ News> City News> Bangalore News \/ by Sunitha Rao R \/ TNN \/ May 04th, 2018<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bengaluru : In an era when girl children were forced to stay home while their male siblings went to school, three Catholic nuns from France\u00a0started an institution \u2014 now St Ann\u2019s High School \u2014 in Mangaluru. The nuns, of the order of Sisters of the Apostolic Carmel, spread their mission of educating the girl child … Continue reading Carmelites celebrate 150 years of educating girls<\/span>