I made a trip to the United States of America (USA) in the last month. On the flight, my co-passenger next to me was a Bangladeshi. He knew that I was an Indian. We shared our thoughts on various topics. He had a word of praise for Indians. He appreciated Indo-Americans for their work and dedication especially the doctors and engineers. These Indo-Americans have created a positive image of India in a foreign land. They are considered to be peace-loving, family-oriented and dedicated professionals. These stories kept on coming back to me during my short stay in the USA. It gave me a sense of identity in a foreign land. I am an Indian. I am proud to be Indian.
Soon, I began to ponder on the positive image of Indians abroad. I reflected on the factors that have contributed to making Indians do better at the world stage. I glanced through the internet to find successful Indians at the international level. I want to mention few of them here such as Sunder Pichai, the CEO of Google Inc., Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft Inc., Indira Nooyi, CEO of PepsiCo, Shantanu Narayen, CEO Abode Systems, Ajay Banga, CEO of Mastercard, the list can go on. I had a simple question in my mind. How did these people achieve such a most coveted reputation at the international level?
After much reflections, I arrived at the conclusion that it was all because of education. For someone has rightly said that education is the basis on which we build our future. It made me search for their early life and educational background. Mr Pichai and Ms Nooyi studied in Chennai. Mr Nadella studied in Hyderabad. Mr Banga studied in Secunderabad-Delhi and Mr Narayen studied in Hyderabad. I notice that they studied in ordinary schools in India. I was also surprised to see that some of them studied in the Christian institutes. This made me curious to find out the contribution of Christian educational institutes in India with special reference to Catholic Education Institutes.
We all know the Christian missionaries came to India were great educators. They saw the poverty and injustice in Indian society. They made education as their tool to fight social evil. They opened many education institutes in cities as well as remotest villages. It dawned a new era for India. India made good progress compared to other third world countries. But the situation has changed and we are experiencing a change in the field of education in India today. We have many international schools and most sophisticated educational institutes in India. The industrialists and politicians have commercialized education in India. Education has become a business. Their publicity lures many middle-class families to put their children in these schools adding extra pressure on their lives. These parents believe that these international schools will make their children most successful. Does the present situation indicate that the catholic educational institutes have nothing to offer anymore? Once again I turned to our identity. I found it in the Nicene Creed. We are the one-holy-catholic-apostolic church. It boosted my morals and infused within me a new spirit. Let us see each of them briefly.
One: We need to remember that we are in communion. We may be working in our dioceses or religious congregation independently. If we put our efforts together, the staggering figures will wonderstruck us. According to the web site of the office for education and culture (CBCI), the Catholic church has 54937 (almost fifty-five thousand) educational institutes in India. It includes universities to institutions for the street children. The beneficiaries of these institutes are 5,19,48,600 (almost five crores twenty lacs) children and 26,96,650 (almost twenty-seven lacs) teachers who are employed in these institutes. There are many Christian institutes work along with us in India but they are not counted here. The feeling of communion and oneness help us to build a positive image of ourselves.
Holy: The holiness springs from personal vocation. We find in the school; priests and religious (men and women) working in their religious garbs. They carry with them a strong identity of holiness. Their spiritual identity and the self-sacrifice make a deep impression on the young minds. Their value-based life on the Gospel makes them heroes and models. In recent times, the laity is taking leadership roles in our educational institutes. We need to form them on the Gospel values. They need to be made realized that their holiness/spiritual identity irrespective of any religion should not be below standards.
Catholic: It literary means universal. The Catholic church is never in conflict with the world, technology, science, etc. It has a universal approach. It does not even hurt the sentiments of other religions. It embraces all peoples with their socio-cultural background. Our unique identity of being Catholic should stand out. The students who pass out from the catholic education institutes should be adherers of unity, peace and harmony. That is the hallmark of our catholic community. It should be imparted to all those who enter our school premises.
Apostolic: It has something to do with the mission. We have no institute without the mission. Every institute displays its vision-mission statement on its entrance. Our ultimate mission is to spread the message of Jesus Christ i.e. love. Our every institute embodies this mission in different forms. We need to remember that we are missionaries of love. We work for Jesus who was called supreme teacher. The church looks at the teachers with great hope. The Gospel can’t be heard without the proclamation. It is a supreme call to make our students and teachers the missionaries of love. Thus, fulfilling the mission of Christ.
Conclusion:
The church in India especially the education institutes are going through a rough phase in the recent past due to various factors. I have not discussed them here but I believe we are aware of it. Such a situation can push us to the corner, making all those who are involved in the field of education vulnerable and pessimistic. I have proposed a remedy by inviting you to relook at your identity. The church in its documents issued by the Congregation for Catholic Education has guided us every time to overcome all the challenges by re-looking at our Catholic identity. It is deeply rooted in our faith in Jesus Christ. We need to reaffirm our identity in Jesus who is the foundation of our Catholic Education institutes. This approach will help us to open a new chapter in modern India. A real sense of identity will channelize our energy. Let all our educators in our institutes know that they are Catholics first then the educators. Not the other way round.
