Miao: The emergence of Catholic schools has been a major component of the education system around the world.
In recent years, schools have continued to develop enormously with advanced technologies. The institutions are now relatively well equipped not only in terms of infrastructure but also staffed by skilled and qualified mentors.
Bishop George Pallipparampil of Miao has been dedicating his services for more than three decades in the northeastern India. He became the first resident priest of Arunachal Pradesh in 1992 by establishing a school and a boarding establishment in Borduria, one of the state’s headquarters. The Salesian priest knew that education was the ultimate source of all knowledge and therefore set up numerous schools in the interior areas that are completely cut off from the rest of the country.
His focus was not only limited to education but for the overall development of the people in the region. Hence, besides establishing Newman Educational Society in 2000 for the promotion of education, he also established the Agency for Culture and Human Resource Development, a registered society that safeguards the tribal identity, as well as the Seva Kendra (social service center) Arunachal East that works for the improvement and healthcare needs of people.
As of now there are 37 schools under its ambit spread across the eight districts of east Arunachal Pradesh, with over 12,000 students and 1,450 teachers educating tribal children in the most interior villages. The number of schools is growing every year and these enabled them to open the first Catholic Bachelor’s degree college in Namsai district in 2014.
Today, the schools are accountable for meeting all the teaching and learning requirements of the state. They have distinctive goals and features which is derived from a core of philosophical and theological truths. Besides the regular academic program, they also set up various technical and vocational courses for the youth and innovative works in the field of education.
The diocese is committed to providing value-based, soulful higher education in order to help them become agents of transformation within and around them. It has several associations that are aimed at providing holistic educational approach for the students. It has made progress in all aspects over the years with number of schools and the social, cultural and environmental development. They also opened an environmental center that offers a variety of activities and programs for a diverse range of user groups.
The school curricula are mainly designed to meet the phenomenal needs of the students and to bridge the transition in a variety of ways. In a rigorous academic atmosphere students are being guided with the most advanced technological system that will enhance in their developmental skills.
The new system is growing at an exponential rate, providing a seamless environment to support technology rich programme. Working within the framework, learning takes place in the relevant real world contexts. The schools makes a point to provide countless opportunities for growth through discoveries and experiences while discussing clear goals and expectations as active participations in their own learning.
A set of objectives are being provided by which students are enabled to build the deeper meaning of knowledge, to foster an academic culture aimed at the pursuit of truth and to actively promote growth in virtue.
Arunachal is home to more than 20 major tribes with a number of sub tribes and the state’s remote and mountainous terrain has led to challenges of unemployment and lack of infrastructure. Many religious leaders have come from distant parts of India to serve the local population of indigenous tribes. Catholic schools in the diocese have been working for promoting moral education as well as inter-religious harmony and indigenous culture.
(This article appeared in The Statesman newspaper on March 31, 2015)