Latest


Mangaluru: St Francis Xavier School, Bejai set for centenary celebrations

  •   Mon, Nov 30 2015 01:31:57 PM

Pics: Joshwa D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru (EP)

Mangaluru, Nov 30: St Francis Xavier Higher Primary School, Bejai is all set for its centenary celebrations on December 2 at 5.30 pm.

The centenary celebrations will start with thanksgiving mass at 9 am. Fr Alwyn D' Cunha, parish priest of Infant Mary Church, Katipalla will be the main celebrant.

Flag hoisting and prize distribution ceremony will be held at 10 am. Hilda Clementina Pinto ECO will be the chief guest.

The grand finale of the celebrations will be held at 5.30 pm presided over by bishop of Mangaluru Dr Aloysius Paul D'Souza. Dr Nodu Subraya Bhat, J R Lobo, MLA, Ivan D'Souza, MLC, Jacintha Alfred MCC mayor and Fr Jerald D'Souza, secretary CBE will be the chief guests.

Former correspondents Fr Godfrey Saldanha, Fr Victor Machado and retired headmistresses Lilly Pinto, Nelly Tauro, Catherine D'Souza, Vivian Lasrado, Lidwin D'Almeida, Concepta Noronha and Precilla Rodrigues will be felicitated on the occasion.

Celebrating 100 years of successful and meaningful existence is certainly a matter of great pride and satisfaction for any institution. The school owes its visionary efforts to the chaplains and parish priests of St Francis Xavier Church during whose tenure it grew in strength. Equally important is the contribution of Fr A A E C Colaco, who served as the parish priest of St Francis Xavier Church and manager of the school from 1922 to 1936. The school attained enormous progress under his care. A new building was also constructed in 1929.

The classes were extended up to eighth standard, following which the school was elevated to the grade of higher elementary in 1933. In 1940, a bifurcation of the school took place, resulting in the birth of Lourdes Higher Primary School directed towards imparting education exclusively to girls. Both the schools were merged in 2000 and the school has been offering co-education ever since.

The school is aided by the government and there are eight teaching staff in the school. Three are appointed by the government and five by the management. The school has a strength of 210 students with 113 boys and 97 girls. The medium of instruction is Kannada and free education is being provided to students at the school.

The school had been providing free education irrespective of caste, creed and gender with an aim of making students responsible citizens of the nation. With this in mind, the students are also being trained in classical dance, yoga, crafts and computer education.

The school has contributed several teachers, educationists, scientists, doctors, engineers, advocates, social workers and elected representatives to the society. Many of the alumni of the school have been serving as priests and nuns under various congregations across the nation.
  

Top Stories

Comment on this article

  • Flavian Pinto, Bejai/Toronto

    Tue, Dec 01 2015

    Thanks to Daijiworld for publishing this article on the centenary celebration of St. Francis Xavier school or else we would not have known of this great event.
    This brought back for me the nostalgic memories of first schooling some six decades ago.
    Congratulations to Fr. Wilson D’Souza, Mrs. Lona Rodrigues, HM, and the current staff.
    I was a student from Class one to three and learnt the solid basics from Alice Teacher, Nelly Teacher and Lucy teacher. That foundation truly helped me to progress in life. It was highly disciplined school and it was difficult to spare caning from great Shippa Mestry. May be because of that my naughty friends and myself did reasonably well in life.
    My paternal Aunt Ms. Lily Pinto was the head mistress for more than 30 years and all my 5 siblings got solid foundation from this school. It is nice to see 90 year old aunt in the picture and thanks for recognising her despite her age and infirmity.
    There are thousands of students who got their first basic education in this school and have done extremely well in life and scattered all over the world. May I suggest the current HM to contact as many as possible and tell them the progress of the school. In return, I am sure, many will patronage the school in their own way, for the benefit of the current students.

    Reply Report Abuse Agree [3]

  • CGS & Family, Valencia,Mangaluru

    Tue, Dec 01 2015

    Congratulations and Best wishes to Fr.Wilson D'Souza, Correspondent, Mrs.Lona Rodrigues Rego,Head Mistress, the entire Staff and Students of St.Francis Xavier Hr Pry School, Bejai on their Centenary Celebrations. May God Bless them all.

    Reply Report Abuse Agree [4]

  • Sanjay Kumar, Mangalore/Bangalore

    Mon, Nov 30 2015

    happy to here the centenary celebration, i was the student from 1975 - 1982

    Reply Report Abuse Agree [9]

  • Willie, Mangalore,Bejai

    Mon, Nov 30 2015

    Happy to note the celebration.
    I was a student from class 1 to 4.
    Those were the days of slate and kaddi....
    With respect I remember Shippa mistry,Jefrey mistry,Lilly head teacher,Alice(Chimoto)teacher, Nelly Pais teacher,Lethisha teacher ........
    Here I am because of the foundation laid by them.
    GOD bless them all.
    Best wishes to SFX school.

    Reply Report Abuse Agree [14]

  • Melwyn Lobo, bejai/mangalore

    Mon, Nov 30 2015

    Congratulations to the Manager and staff of SFX school Bejai on their centenary celebrations.It was great to be a student of this school and be a part of the 60th- Diamond Jubilee celebrations in year Oct.1975. There were great teachers who guided us with their dedication. Happy to know that Fr. Alwyn will be the chief celebrant. We were from the same batch of 1970-77.Since I am far from Mangalore will not be part of the such a memorable event.But all the best for the celebrations and to students who are presently studying there.

    Reply Report Abuse Agree [17]


Leave a Comment

Title: Mangaluru: St Francis Xavier School, Bejai set for centenary celebrations



You have 2000 characters left.

Disclaimer:

Please write your correct name and email address. Kindly do not post any personal, abusive, defamatory, infringing, obscene, indecent, discriminatory or unlawful or similar comments. Daijiworld.com will not be responsible for any defamatory message posted under this article.

Please note that sending false messages to insult, defame, intimidate, mislead or deceive people or to intentionally cause public disorder is punishable under law. It is obligatory on Daijiworld to provide the IP address and other details of senders of such comments, to the authority concerned upon request.

Hence, sending offensive comments using daijiworld will be purely at your own risk, and in no way will Daijiworld.com be held responsible.

You might also like