By Viju Mangalore - Daijiworld.com Mangalore
Mangalore, Jun 10: Those who passed out of this temple of knowledge have fond memories of their schooling days. The noisy classes being silenced by the sight of a teacher. The mad rush to the road as the school bell rang the last bell for the day. All fall in line at the blow of a whistle during the school assembly and the common blend of bookworms, brilliant heads, the silent ones and the noisemakers.
It’s Cascia High School, Jeppu!
Far from the humdrum of the city on the Southern part of Mangalore is this school which was established for the benefit of rural students by parish priest of St Rita’s church Fr F X Fernandes on June 3,1946.
The journey of this temple of knowledge has reached the 60-year landmark. Monsignor F X Fernandes, Fr A J D'Silva, Fr J M Menezes, Fr Thomas D'Sa, Fr J I Saldanha, Fr Robert M Pinto, Fr Aloysius P D'Souza (the present Bishop of Mangalore Diocese) and Fr Denis D'Souza have served as school conveners for this great institute.
On a firm foundation rose the school in 1946 and all credit is due to its first headmaster Manjeshwar Purushottam Kini who spear headed the school with utmost commitment and zeal. Following them were Fr Fredrick Fernandes and Kateel Govind Pai who endevoured tirelessly for the institute.
In 1950, it became a full-fledged high school and within a years time built a four-class room building. The society took the school to be its own and thus the generous support resulted in erecting another building for the school. By 1966, a night school was operating from this building. In1968 the school became a higher secondary school.
It continues to render service to mankind silently. Unlike the prominently heard schools of Mangalore, Cascia High School keeps a low profile and carried on with its motto "No knowledge would be invisible."
The school comes under the administration of the Catholic Education Board while school convener, parish priest and School Development and Managing Committee manage its overall administration.
Since then, the school has been rendering education to thousands of students, without the distinction of caste, religion and class. It has been striving for the integral development of the area through offering excellent moral education and inculcating patriotism.
Alumni from the school have adorned higher positions and have earned good reputation in various fields.
At present the school has both Kannada and English medium classes functioning from VIII to X std. There are four divisions each in VIII and IX and three divisions in X std, wherein both boys and girls around 700 in number are provided with the education.
The school has been securing more than 90 per cent results in SSLC public examinations since many years. Yashasvini N, an SSLC student, has secured a total of 585 marks in the SSLC exams this year. A total of six students achieved distinction and 70 students have got first class.
Cascia High School has carved a niche for itself not only in the educational field, but also in all other fields. The students of the school have won many prizes in football, hockey, wrestling, yoga and other sports activities and the school has the pride of representing State-level competitions in football, hockey and wrestling.
Extra-curricular activities are conducted in schools to ensure personality development of the students There is a NCC unit, Guides, Literary Club, Science Club, Arts Club, Y S M, Kannada Club and UNESCO Club besides computer education classes.
Steven D'Souza, Fr William Fernandes, Fr Lawrence D'Souza and Saturine Mascarenhas have served as headmasters while Rita Rodrigues, who has been serving as a teacher in the school, for the past 25 years, is the present school head.
The school has proposed to construct an open stage, undertake repair works to the school building, bring out a souvenir and distribute uniforms to students to mark the diamond jubilee celebration.
On June 3 it laid the foundation stone for the construction of a stage and has distributed uniforms to students. It has urged donors, philanthropists and well-wishers especially the old students of the school, to contribute generously.