The 125th year of the St. Joseph’s Convent High School took off on an enthusiastic and nostalgic note here on Thursday.
The opening ceremony was marked by a commemorative rally by school children, which also featured a pageant on the history of the school.
Principal Thankam Michael went back to the history of the school that in 1890, when Venugram (also Belgaum or Belgavi now) was a small hamlet of 20,000 or so odd population who frowned upon the education of girls, several British officers came and settled with their families desiring good education for their daughters and petitioned the Archbishop of Goa and the Patriarch of the East Indies to establish an English Medium School for girls.
The Archbishop in turn, requested Mother Stella of the Canossians in Hong Kong to spare a few of her nuns for the proposed School. Mother Stella sent five Sisters by a ship which reached Cochin in 1890. The Sisters reached Belagavi by bullock carts. On arriving here, they started St. Joseph’s School in 1891.
In those days, Belgaum was ravaged by plague and epidemic. Braving many hardships, the Canossian Sisters worked tirelessly to educate Belgaum’s girl-child. For one hundred and twenty-five years now, the Canossian Sisters have taught the children quality education along with a moral compass.
Several programmes had been chalked throughout the year, he added.
