“I live by the motto of my alma mater – Let your light shine,” says Prof. Anila Kishore, Principal, Bangalore North Education Society and an alumni of Jyoti Nivas College (JNC), which had its beginnings in 1966, when the Sisters of St. Joseph of Tarbes found the college in the Cantonment area of Bangalore. ‘Abode of Light’, translated Jyoti Nivas, started as an institution with 47 students of PUC/intermediate Arts and Science; with eight staff members and is to celebrate 50 years of accomplished contribution to society and its people. Affiliated to the Bangalore University, the college was located on the premises of St. Francis Xavier’s Girls High School in Frazer Town. Today, the college located in the Koramangala Industrial Area is a campus that has been thoughtfully developed.
The dynamism and leadership that first Principal, Sr. Yvonne Marie provided, and the support she received from the Founder, Mother Anne, ensured that even with modest infrastructure and an unparallelled will, a strong foundation can be laid. The cause was no doubt to serve the needy and ensure quality education would reach to one and all. The college as it stands today, has reached out to lakhs of students and ensured societal changes, with the academic and co-curricular inputs that have been provided over a period of time. Starting off with Intermediate/Pre-University programmes, the college today has established a tie-up and academic connect with the Deakin University – Victoria, Australia and the University of Pisa.
It is the light of students like, Prof. Anila Kishore, who believes that, “JNC was the best thing to happen in my life. It brought about a sense of belongingness and bonding, not only students but with teachers as well.” She goes on to add, “As an academic administrator, JNC gave me the foundations and I am able to run an educational institution with dedication and success.” Ekta, Co-founder at Maraa, a media and arts collective, who was student for three years from 1997 – 2000, recalls, “It was JNC which provided me a foundation and an interest in what I am doing today. The faculty of Literature deepened my interest in the subject, taught me creativity and provided much needed encouragement for me to start a theatre group called Masrah , which has inspired me even to this day.”
The college starts the yearlong 50th year celebrations on August 11, which includes a walkathon from the old campus in Frazer Town to the current campus, dance programs showcasing close to 50 art forms, Yoga performance to mention a few.
The teachers, alumni and the present batch of students have all joined hands in tandem to ensure that the events would be as memorable as the history of the college, and they with a promise, that go ahead with the Mission of the College, “To turn out Intellectually Enlightened, Morally Upright, Spiritually Oriented, Socially committed and Emotionally balanced Young persons”. True to the Mission, the words of Rani Srinivas, Head, Administration and Employee Engagement, are even more encouraging towards the Alma Mater, where she says, “The College gave me life, with the amazing interaction, with the faculty, who were like our parents”. Rani was a student for five years from 1987 to 1991 and also taught at JNC for two years.
The ideals of community support and development are deeply entrenched in the college environment, so much so that the co-founder of Vimochana , Donna Fernandes was a student at JNC between 1969 – 1973, comments, “It is in JNC, I have my fondest of memories, it was and is a family even to this day. We worked for the NSS and took to community development in the slums and helped support the downtrodden as students, and I follow and adhere to the mission even to this day”.
