By Matters India Reporter
Kolkata: An all girls’ school in Kolkata’s Christ the King parish this year marks 75 years of education and social engagement in the former capital of British India.
Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions, an international Missionary Congregation, started Our Lady Queen of the Missions School at Park Circus under the Archdioceses of Calcutta in 1946 with five Sisters coming from Chittagong (now in Bangladesh).
Early on, in 1950 the Sisters opened Little Flower charitable dispensary to reach out to the poor and marginalized.
In 1952, one of the outstanding nuns of the order, Mother Marie Aime Hoffstetter who took charge of the dispensary received the National Award from President S. Radhakrishnan for social work and service to humanity at large.
In 1968 Superior of the convent Sister Attracta started the afternoon free school in Hindi medium to cater to the children from the slums.
In the thick of Bangladeshi refugee crisis in 1971, the nuns picked up 12 unwanted babies from refugee camp and set up an orphanage in Kalyanpur on the outskirts of Calcutta in Baruipur diocese in North 24 Parganas.
It was in 1972 that the school community became provincial headquarters of Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions catering to India, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
The school’s second campus was opened in 2000 at Salt Lake to cater to class 11 and 12 fetching Sister Joicy Madassery the coveted Telegraph Education Foundation award for the best principal of the Year in 2003.
In 2006 school again received The Telegraph Award – certificate of merit for social service and excellent maintenance.
In 2021, the school was awarded the Innovative and Creative Literary Award by the National Level Education Excellence Conclave supported by the Ministry of Education, Ministry of AYUSH, FIT India, Digital India, National Skills Development Corporation and others.
On the occasion of 75th Anniversary, school has been recognized for moving ahead with the changing times of education, promoting Innovation and Invention literacy for introducing Experiential Learning through integrated STEAM Education.
STEAM is an educational approach to learning that uses Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics aligned to the National Education Policy of India 2020.
The story of the school began when parish priest of Christ the King parish in Calcutta Fr Kawea, invited the Sisters to work in his parish and christened the little entity as Queen of the Missions to match with the name of Christ the King Parish.