JEA NEWS LETTER – Vol- 2

JESUIT EDUCATION 2020

A creative and informative News Letter of the JEA for Jesuit Educators(For Private Circulation Only)

Dear One and All……

May the miracle of Christmas bring you love and joy,May the New Year open of happiness door,

May all your wishes always come true,Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to You!

In today's world we are inundated with images of Christmas from the media. We are told that it is all about buying expensive gifts for each other. In today's challenging economic times it is a tragedy that parents spend way more than they can afford to try to please their children. The sad truth is that, "money can't buy you love". For a family Christmas holiday is about the time spent together with loved ones. It is about gifts that come from the heart, and it is about the thousands of years of tradition that mark this holiday season. It is a time for us to think…..and act in accordance with our noble vocation.

Are we only teachers…..or are we truly educators who reflect and help others to reflect too…?

EDITORIAL

"Synergy in Classroom and School"“These are ... among my fellow-workers for the kingdom of God, and they have proved a comfort to me.” Colossians 4:11Browny and Blacky were two horses behind whom a man would plough the fields. Browny was an old and disciplined animal but Blacky was young and independent. When the man was ploughing, Blacky sometimes wanted to pull the plough in a different direction from Browny. When this happened, the man had to work very hard to get them to work together and to pull in the same direction. At other times, the horses worked happily together and progress with the ploughing was then so much easier.Synergy is a combined effect which is greater than the sum of individual effects. Two horses working together can pull rather more than twice what one horse can pull alone. The man who ploughed the field sometimes enjoyed the effect of synergy between his horses but all too often it was lacking and he would come home exhausted by his efforts to promote it.The Greek word ‘sunergeo’ is used several times in the New Testament, among them the verse from Colossians above and others that talk about ‘fellow-workers’ and ‘working together’. Some of them even say that we can be co-workers with God Himself, we can work synergistically with Him and He with us! What grace on His part! As teachers, we easily come to see ourselves as queens and kings in our own classrooms. We do not like to have principal or other teachers observing us. We may have problems but we tend to pretend to others that everything is all right in our classroom.

In our crowded lives it is easy to be constantly on the go, never stopping, always doing everything on the run. Teaching can have that effect on you. From early in the morning until late at night you plan, prepare, deliver,

interact, solve problems, assess, mark, plan some more. Personal time and personal space can become squeezed, as energy levels drop we cut back what we do pacing ourselves to the end of term. A partner relationship with school management, parents, officials, and students are important to get that synergy. Even another teacher can be very helpful to both. We can commit ourselves to share the highs and the lows, to observe one another’s lessons and expose our own practice to the scrutiny of the other, to work together to find new and better ways of doing things. We are not really self-sufficient, we need one another. Why pretend to be perfect?! Why not be vulnerable? What have we to lose except our pride?! Remember working together works. Goals are made when we combine our efforts! As teachers let us be team members who aim at greater effectiveness and better results!

WISH YOU ALL A GRACE-FILLED, MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!

Sunny Jacob S.J.JEA Secretary for South Asia

WHAT AND HOW OF JESUIT EDUCATION

It is always a joy for me to delve into the wealth of information which the Jesuits have given the world over the last four and a half centuries. In 1980 through Ignatian Pedagoical Paradigm (IPP), the Society took a general approach to deal with education and the students we are to educate. In the recently concluded SIPEI International Seminar at Spain (November 2-12, 2014), we got into the basics of Jesuit education, that is, the specifics and how to apply them in our schools to achieve the four ‘C’s namely Conscience, Competence, Compassion and Commitment. Jesuit education is aimed at making students persons of Conscience, persons of Competence, Persons of Compassion and persons of Commitment. Towards this we must look to the great masters of Europe, the Jesuit educators, who have preceded us, handing down to us their wisdom and experience. Amazingly, they have written on almost everything: on any topic one can imagine dealing with education.

Historical Background

When we study the past 450 years in which Jesuits have been engaged in education, it is clear that Jesuits have been in the fore front, a fact universally admitted by friends and foes alike. The Jesuits were accused of being witches and magicians —because of the fact the Jesuits were doing something incredible, that they were teaching, educating, leading and influencing society through their universally spread out educational institutions.

They have been at the very forefront of education, and one reason why it is interesting as well as important for us to look at the Jesuits is that it was born into times of crisis. The society

Read…Reflect…and Act uponMust read article

was founded by a great leader in his time: St. Ignatius of Loyola, one of the greatest men of the Counter-Reformation, concerned with the defense and eventual restoration of the Catholic Faith. It was often attacked, obviously by rivals, yet even by those who should have been friends; and, we can say, the Society never had the specific intention to become involved in education. To specifically found an order in order to educate was not the idea of the Founder, St. Ignatius at the beginning. St. Ignatius was trying to form a small, mobile, well-educated, group of men who had mobility —they were to be tied down by neither parochial nor educational duties. When the Pope needed them somewhere, they were to be sent. That was what St. Ignatius had in mind in founding the Company of Jesus. However, being a saint, he proposed and then God disposed and Ignatius, without two minds, accepted God’s will.

And what happened very quickly, even in the lifetime of St. Ignatius, was his realization that the way to defend the Faith is through education. Then on there is an organic development of the necessity of our involvement in education. So at this point in history and in the history of the Society we need, then, to become very serious about education and properly dealing with our schools.

St. Ignatius was a man of discernment. He realizes that God disposes for him to get into education, he goes for it, and then we have this great educational system of the Jesuits. Before actually getting into the objective means and aims of the Jesuit methodology, we first need to briefly become acquainted with the Ratio Studiorum, the Jesuit manual of education.

The Jesuits did not start out to establish secular schools, that is, to invite the enrollment of students not intending to enter their order as religious. They came to see the necessity of having such schools, however, as a logical and natural development of their purpose. Their great achievement can be measured by recalling the social conditions of the time which were exacerbated by the destruction, implosion, and deterioration of

the university system. Most of the universities of the time were seedbeds of heresy. A remedy had to be found. St. Ignatius was not about to take his young and send them into these universities to be trained. He realized he had to do the educating himself. This was a mirror of the beginning of the Jesuit educational system. The landmark achievement of the Jesuits was to give order, hierarchy, structure, unity, and methodology to education. This is their great legacy, and learning from it is something extremely beneficial to us in the field of education.

They began founding colleges, even a college in India, in Goa; St. Francis Xavier began putting people into that college and trained Jesuits to begin teaching. St. Francis Borgia did likewise in Spain. Then in 1551, St. Ignatius decided to found the Roman College. Once decided, he determined that it would be the very best in the world, a model of all models. He spared no effort, nor expense to make it the greatest of all universities of his day. This was the mind-set of St. Ignatius of which, depending on our own individual character, we must share. We are called to do our best for the world. Magis (more committed work) is our mantra!

There was a need for a system of education, for a system of studies; therefore Jesuits put themselves to the task. They began putting together various documents, some antecedent to the Ratio Studiorum: the De Studiis Societatis Jesu, the Ordo Studiorum, and the Summa Sapientiae etc.. Finally, in 1581, the fifth Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Claudius Aquaviva, decided to research and combine all these documents into one manual so that anyone given education would know what the Jesuits meant by "education" —the roles of rector, prefect, and teacher; their manner of operation, etc. Aquaviva was elected in 1581; in 1584 he began his work on the Ratio, but it was not until 1599 that the completed Ratio Studiorum was published. The Jesuits were not "band-aid" guys; they were not out to simply patch things up. They set their minds to doing

things correctly no matter how long it would take. They were convinced they could not proceed in any other way since this apostolate regarded the education of future generations, of their own men and teachers, and the proper establishment of their schools. By no means did they neglect the "here and now," but they had a very long-term vision of their education apostolate. When, 15 years after it was begun, the Ratio Studiorum came out, its use was mandatory.

This document was fundamental in giving structure to the Jesuits and making their educational system, possibly the greatest in the history of the world. Its colleges, universities, and high schools spread throughout the world, almost in every country of the world.

The Ratio Studioroum is very Ignatian. It is not a theoretical treatise on education; it is a practical code for establishing and conducting schools. It sets up the framework, gives statements of the educational aims and definitive arrangements of classes, schedules, and syllabi, with detailed attention to pedagogical methods and, critically, the formation of teachers, which Aquaviva put at the top of the list. The heart of any school is its teachers and that has got to be at the top of the list.

I think that is very important to keep in mind that while the Jesuits had the Ratio Studiorum they were not slaves to it. They were lovers of the principles enshrined the Ratio, not slaves to its letter. In other words, they knew the principles and prudently applied them in the specific situation. I think we need to keep this in mind when we look at our schools and education today, because our Society has the great opportunity and ability not to be shackled to a certain way of doing things, when it comes to education. Certainly, there will be underlying perennial principles in all of our systems, but also particular means of approach, methodology, class structure, curriculum, etc., that we can adapt and use ourselves.

Aim of Jesuit Education

Why did the Jesuits become involved with education? This question is easily answered by answering the question underlying both, "Why does any order of the Catholic Church exist?" This is what St. Ignatius write in the Institutions: “The end of the Society is not only to care for the salvation and perfection of their own souls with divine grace, but with the same [divine grace] seriously to devote themselves to the salvation and perfection of their neighbors. For it was especially instituted for the defense and propagation of the Faith, and the progress of souls in Christian life and doctrine”.

Man is not merely a citizen of this or that country; he is born to be a citizen of heaven. Therefore, in all truth, we can say that the purpose of education is a preparation for life, proximately this life, but ultimately everlasting life. That is why the Jesuits educate. And we’re here to learn the principles necessary to fulfill that end. The glory of our specific vocation as educators is just that; we have the opportunity to form young souls. That is something that principals and teachers need to meditate on constantly; it should be their daily concern.

Therefore, we are not talking about mere intellectualism. Education is not just intellectual formation nor instruction; it is the formation of the whole man. We must make sure that our faculties with the right kind of teacher, not just someone who knows math or history, but a man/ woman in the state of grace and striving for sanctity so that religion permeates his class, whatever the subject. This is critical, because spirituality is not just a class at a certain time; it is everything.

The goal

The ultimate goal is to lead students to the knowledge and love

of God. Essentially, education is ultimately apostolic. It is an apostolic mission. We instill in children knowledge and love of Almighty God, an enthusiasm for God and Faith that manifests in the attitude of justice and peace. It is the first principle. The school, the education, the method, the curriculum, whatever it may be: these are means to that end, to know, to love, and to serve Almighty God. We are aspiring to form Christ in each and every one of our students. What other greater role is there for a teacher?

The immediate educational aims are, first, to develop all the powers of the body and soul. It’s the whole man that is being formed: his body, senses, memory, imagination, intellect, and will. It is developing, disciplining, and directing all the capacities of the human personality. That is the purpose of education. Here is a remarkable quote from the Ratio Studiorum: “The development of the student’s intellectual capacity is the school’s most characteristic part. However, this development will be defective and even dangerous unless it is strengthened and completed by the training of the will and the formation of the character”.

If you are just shooting for intellectual knowledge and you are not strengthening the will and forming the character at the same time, not only is education defective, but it is capable of being "even dangerous," and possibly extremely so! Education prepares nature to receive and cooperate with God’s grace. We are instructing the intellect, training the will, and forming the character —in other words, the whole man —based upon serious principles.

Importance of Teachers

Critical to the Jesuits and to any good school is formation of teachers and their skillful teaching. The teacher is the heart of

the educational process. The teachers are the ones with their hands on the clay doing the regular immediate formation. That’s why a bad teacher lacking in either discipline or knowledge causes disasters, the worst being to extinguish the desire of students to learn and to love learning. Be vigilant! Boring teachers, unprepared teachers, indifferent teachers, teachers who only work for money —these are the destruction of a school, and not just the destruction of a school, but the destruction of souls entrusted to our care. We can’t do that! Any talk of establishing schools means necessarily we talk about making sure we have properly trained teachers teaching our children.

Skillful Teaching

In the book, Teacher and Teaching, by Fr. Richard Tierney, S.J. says: “True education is generally the work of skillful teachers. Since the former is a pearl without price [true education], the value of the latter can scarcely be overestimated. Teaching is the art of the interesting, the inspiring”. (p.27).

A genuine teacher moves students to action, both intellectual and physical. To have such teachers is the first means of securing a good education for a student. As the famous saying goes, "Many teach, but few inspire." One cannot possibly exaggerate the need to have good inspiring teachers. We may suffer various monetary constraints which disallow us from compensating a teacher in proportion to his worth, but I would say, now is the time to make every possible sacrifice to pay our teachers well and attract qualified individuals to our schools.

Let us not forget the need of adequate training. We must monitor and nurture the teachers we have. Out teachers must desire our monitoring and nurturing. One way to help their development is by giving them in-training programmes. Evaluation and appraisal must be offered on a continual basis throughout the school year. Even the best teacher

still needs to develop, to improve; that we provide the means for this is a major part of our administrative role as a true headmaster/principal.

St. Ignatius and the Company were determined, once the work of education was understood as God’s will and it was decided to get involved in it, to spare neither pains nor expense in the formation of their teachers. They would do anything to make sure that the teachers were properly formed. That is something we have to reflect on, that the success of a school is depending upon skilled teaching.

Curriculum

A good education will be determined by the quality of the curriculum. The first guiding principle is that the curriculum achieve formation, not just information. The curriculum is structured to develop the intellectual and moral habits, to form the character. The goal of Jesuit curriculum is not merely to be an accumulation of information to deliver to the student. This, however, is the goal of curricula in the modern, informational, technological era —that the student acquire as many facts as possible, have them crammed into his brain; then he is an intelligent man. Look at the coaching centers mushrooming all over promising the students instant success. No! —however, we must be sure not to swing to the other extreme, that is, factual information is unimportant. Though it is not the main thing, not the formal cause, it is still the material of education. We need to know facts and dates, theories and formulas and historical circumstances —these things make up the matter of education. They are not the end, but they are means to the end.

Mere accumulation of information will not make a person integrated and wise. The methodology of Jesuit education was to form a man to train him to think. One of our biggest

challenges is to train a young man to think, to analyze. This incapacity to think will be overcome by forming the intellectual and moral habits of a person, helping the student to penetrate into the reality of things rather than merely filling his mind with only of facts as coaching centers in our country do.

The second principle regarding curriculum is that its study is to be intensive rather than extensive. We want to form, not simply inform.

Importance of Humanities and Science

For the high school level, the Jesuits considered the humanities —literature, language, and history —along with science, to be important subjects to be taught. The emphasis on these subjects, without absolutely excluding others, of course, contributed to the balanced formation of the human being, making him a fit receptacle for the grace of God. The humanities offer abiding and universal values for human formation. Why have the great classics, the great works, the great authors, been studied? —Quite simply, they provide what it takes to form a soul, to form a personality. Literature aims not merely at words and phrases and figures. By utilizing these perennial works, the Jesuits formed the soul by noble deeds and great acts; inspired their students and provided a vision for the young mind. These are abiding concepts in education and why it is so necessary to base our schools upon them. By such studies, the Jesuits fostered in their students the ability to think worthwhile thoughts and express them effectively. In order to do the same thing, we must also concentrate on the classics and humanities. Our curricula must present a body of worthwhile knowledge (not just anything and everything), foster in the student the enthusiasm to think it through and organize this knowledge in a workable form, and, finally, dispose him/her to express his/her thoughts effectively by writing or especially speaking. This is why the Jesuits based their education upon these classics. The Jesuits called it the eloquentia perfecta; knowing the right

things, knowing them well, being able to organize them properly, and express them in the proper manner. Education m ust form the whole man, body and soul, natural and supernatural.

Role of teachers and students in a classroom

The Jesuits call their teaching methodology "the mastery formula." It contains two steps. The first is self- activity —ut excitetur ingenium —in other words, getting the student to think. On the part of the student, active participation in the classroom is critical. The teachers are not there anymore just to inform, to give grand speeches and sermons. They are there to make them think and help them learn and that means getting them to do it on their own. That’s education. The child might fall, but gets back up,....Mastery of the subject and well-prepared classes are fundamental in this area, but so is making the classes interesting. The best way to kill everything is to be up there boring the class with monotonous recitation or unprepared, unimaginative lessons. Perhaps we all know what that does to us; some of us have had those teachers in the past! That is why teaching is often called the "art of the interesting."

Along or amidst this intellectual teaching- learning atmosphere in the class room there is another important element has to be looked into. That is formation of moral values. It is more challenging but absolute necessary for education. Today all the more it is vital in our schools that we stress on moral values and discipline as we stress on academic excellence.

Co-scholastic Activities

A wide range of extra-curricular activities are part of Jesuit education. Things like club activities were very important in the Jesuit system. One-Act plays, classical plays, music, dance, games, art and what not….everything complements intellectual

learning. Physical education also has an important role in the development of our students. Remember always virtue stands in the middle.

Cura Personalis(Care of the person) and Discipline

In a Jesuit school teachers are more concerned with the formation of the total person, not the intellect alone. Maintaining close relationships is a means of inspiring the students, of forming high ideals, of teaching by example in both the spiritual and in the intellectual orders....What part is the teacher to play in forming the pupil’s character? In general, he must both inculcate principles and foster the formation of habit. Each student must be known intimately and trained individually. If you don’t know someone, you can’t affect them or properly direct them to a goal. Throughout their history, that’s the way the Jesuits motivated their students.

We do have the opportunity to use what has been proven the most effective way in the approaches for education. As teachers in Jesuit schools we’ve inherited the noble task of education, so we have the duty to apply the perennial principles of education. We must continue to devote ourselves to the study of education: its history, methods, and the proper formation of character....This is our duty. Entrusted to our care are the future citizens of the eternal kingdom. And we must spare no expense, nor labour, nor effort or energy, to form them as the eternal Creator wants them to be.

Jesuit Educational Association Secretary of South Asia

WEBSITES OF JESUIT SCHOOLS IN SOUTH ASIAIAN CONFERENCE

For

better connectivity, better learning…..India:

ANDHRA PROVINCE (AND)

www.loyolapublicschool.orgwww.patrickshighschool.in

BOMBAY PROVINCE (BOM)www.stpetersbandra.org St. Stanislaus school, Bandrawww.stxaviersfort.org St. Xavier’s High School, Mumbaiwww.infantjesusnashik.com St.Xavier’s High School, NashikCALCUTTA PROVINCE (CCU)

DARJEELING PROVINCE (DAR)

DELHI PROVINCEwww.xaviersrohini.edu.in St. Xavier’s School, Shahbad-Daulatpur, Delhi-42www.stxaviersschooljaipur.com St. Xavier’s, Jaipurwww.exrays.netwww.stxaviersdelhi.edu.in St. Xavier’s, DelhiDUMKA-RAIGANJ PROVINCE (DUM)

GOA PROVINCE (GOA)

www.loyolamargao.org Loyola School, Margao GUJARAT PROVINCE (GUJ)www.loyolahallahd.com St. Xavier’s High School, Ahmedabadwww.xaviersgnr.com St. Xavier’s High School, Gandhinagarwww.navsarjan-surat.org Xavier Hostel, Surat HAZARIBAG PROVINCE (HAZ)www.stxaviersbokaro.org St. Xavier’s School, Bokarowww.stxaviershazaribag.org St. Xavier’s, Hazaribagwww.sxshzb.org St. Xavier’s Hazaribagwww.ptecgurwa.org St. Xavier’s High School, Sitagarha

JAMSHEDPUR PROVINCE (JAM)www.denobilifri.in De Nobili School, FRI, Digwadih (Dhanbad)www.denobilibhuli.in De Nobili School, Bhuli, Dhanbadwww.denobilicmri.in De Nobili School, CMRI, Dhanbadwww.denobilictps.in De Nobili School, CTPS, Dhanbadwww.denobilimaithon.in De Nobili School, Maithon, Dhanbadwww.denobilimugma.in De Nobili School, Mugma, Dhanbad

www.dnssijua.com De Nobili School, Sijua, Dhanbadwww.denobilisindri.in De Nobili School, Sindri, Dhanbadwww.loyola.edu.in Loyola School, Jamshedpurwww.stjosephskendrapara.edu.in St. Joseph’s Kendraparawww.xaviergamariah.edu.in Xavier school, Gamariah

KARNATAKA PROVINCE (KAR)Loyola composite Pre University College, Bangalore  www.loyolainstitutions.orgSt Joseph's Indian High School and P U College, Bangalore : www.stjosephsindianinstitutions.comSt Aloysius High School and PU College, Mangalore :  www.staloysiusinstitutions.comLoyola schools and PU College, Bijapur :  www.bijapurjesuits.orgSt Xaviers P U College :  www.stxavierspucollegegulbarga.com

KERALA PROVINCE (KER)www.akjmschool.org AKJM School, Kanjirappallywww.stmichaelskannur.com St.Michael’s Hr. Secondary School, Kannurwww.stjosephsboysschool.org St. Joseph’s School, Kozhikodewww.loyolaschooltrivandrum.com Loyola School, Trivandrum

KOHIMA REGION (KHM)

MADHYA PRADESH PROVINCE (MAP)www.campion-school.com Campion School, Bhopalwww.loyolabsp.com Loyola School, Bilaspur

MADURAI PROVINCE (MDU)www.aicuf.net AICUF OFFICE,Chennaiwww.stmarysmadurai.com St. Mary’s School, Madurai www.arulanandarhss.org St. Arulanandar High School, Oriyur

NEPAL REGION (NEP)www.stx.edu.np St. Xavier’s School, Kathmandu, Nepal.www.sxg.edu.np St. Xaviers school, Godavari, Nepal

PATNA PROVINCE (PAT)

PUNE PROVINCE (PUN)

RANCHI PROVINCE (RAN)www.stmarysam.co.in St. Mary’s School, Simdega

SRI LANKA PROVINCE (SRI) PAKISTAN

BANGLADESH

AFGHANISTAN

Environment movement :www.tarumitra.org

Alumni initiative: http://www.jesuittribute.com/

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNERS OF 2014

Kailash Satyarthi Malala YousafzaiKailash Satyarthi is an Indian children's rights advocate and an activist

against child labour. He founded the Bachpan Bachao Andolan in 1980 and has acted to protect the rights of more than 83,000 children from 144 countries.

1. Born: January 11, 1954 (age 60), Vidisha2. Nationality: Indian

3. Education: Samrat Ashok Technological Institute4. Awards: Nobel Peace Prize

Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest-ever Nobel Prize recipient.1. Born: July 12, 1997 (age 17), Mingora, Pakistan

2. Nationality: Pakistani3. Education: Edgbaston High School

4. Books: I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban5. Parents: Tor Pekai Yousafzai, Ziauddin Yousafzai

6. Awards: Nobel Peace Prize, Sakharov Prize.

All the Jesuit Schools in South Asia, the Jesuits, our teachers, our students, and parents wish you both, hearty congratulations….

You both are an inspiration to all of us!

All must know….

HOW DID JESUITS GET INVOLVE?

At first, no single activity defined the new religious order. The early Jesuits preached in the streets, led men and women through the Spiritual Exercises, taught theology in universities, instructed children in the catechism, and cared for plague victims and prostitutes. Others went off to work in distant parts of the world, as Francis Xavier did in India. They were discovering their mission by doing it, adapting to change, taking risks, and learning by trial and error.Nonetheless, the early companions were all graduates of the best university of Europe and they thought of themselves as specialists in "ministries of the word." Gradually, they came to realize that there was one emerging activity that connected their intellectual training, their world-affirming spirituality, their pastoral experience, and their goal of helping souls. When citizens of Messina asked Ignatius to open a school for their sons, he seems to have decided that schools could be a powerful means of forming the minds and hearts of those, who, because they would be important citizens in their communities, could influence many others. When the college in Messina proved a success, requests to open schools in other cities multiplied and soon education became the characteristic activity of Jesuits.When Ignatius died in 1556 there were 35 Jesuit colleges across Europe. Two hundred years later, there were more than 800 in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. They constituted the largest system of education before the modern era of public schooling and the first truly international one.

WHY WERE JESUIT SCHOOLS SO SUCCESSFUL?The simple answer is that they met a need. Europe entered the modern world almost overnight in the early 16th century. The voyages of exploration to the Americas and the Indies, the Protestant revolt, and Gutenberg's printing press changed people's understanding of the globe, redistributed wealth, and turned Europe into a battleground of ideas. A prosperous middle class wanted an education that would prepare their sons for the opportunities of this new world that was unfolding around them at a dizzying pace.When Jesuits began their schools, two models were available. One was the medieval university, where students prepared for professions such as law, the clergy, and teaching by studying the sciences, mathematics, logic, philosophy, and theology. The other model was the Renaissance humanistic academy, which had a curriculum based on Greek and Latin poetry, drama, oratory, and history. The goal of the university was the training of the mind through the pursuit of speculative truth; the goal of the humanists was character formation, making students better human beings and civic leaders. Jesuit schools were unique in combining these two educational ideals.Perhaps the most important reason for the success of the early Jesuit schools was a set of qualities that Jesuits aspired to themselves and which they consciously set out to develop in their students:Self-knowledge and discipline,Attentiveness to their own experience and to others',Trust in God's direction of their lives,Respect for intellect and reason as tools for discovering truth,Skill in discerning the right course of action,A conviction that talents and knowledge were gifts to be used to help others,Flexibility and pragmatism in problem solving,Large-hearted ambition, and a desire to find God working in all things.

These qualities were the product of the distinctive spirituality that the early Jesuits had learned from Ignatius and that Ignatius had learned from his own experience. Jesuits hoped, in turn, to form their

students in the same spiritual vision, so that their graduates would be prepared to live meaningful lives as leaders in government, the professions, and the Church.

JESUIT EDUCATION IS A PROCESS How does this spiritual vision get translated into an educational vision? The early Jesuits struggled to describe what they called "our way of proceeding." Their accounts varied but it seems that they thought of their distinctive spirituality as a three-part process. It begins with paying attention to experience, moves to reflecting on its meaning, and ends in deciding how to act. Jesuit education, then, can be described in terms of three key movements:

1. Be AttentiveWe learn by organizing our experience and appropriating it in the increasingly complex psychological structures by which we engage and make sense of our world. From infancy, learning is an active process but in our early years it happens without our being aware of it. Once we become adolescents, though, whether we will continue to learn is largely a choice we make.Conscious learning begins by choosing to pay attention to our experience -- our experience of our own inner lives and of the people and the world around us. When we do this, we notice a mixture of light and dark, ideas and feelings, things that give us joy and things that sadden us. It is a rich tapestry and it grows more complex the more we let it register on our awareness. Ignatius was convinced that God deals directly with us in our experience. This conviction rested on his profound realization that God is "working" in everything that exists. (This is why the spirit of Jesuit education is often described as "finding God in all things"). So, our intimate thoughts and feelings, our desires and our fears, our responses to the people and things around us are not just the accidental ebb and flow of our inner lives but rather the privileged moments through which God creates and sustains a unique relationship with each of us.How do I pay attention? By observing, wondering, opening myself to what is new, allowing the reality of people and things to enter my consciousness on its own terms.This is why Jesuit schools have traditionally emphasized liberal education, a core curriculum, and the arts and the humanities -- studies that can enlarge our understanding of what it means to be human and make us more sympathetic to experiences different from our own. This happens outside the classroom too -- for example, in service programs, when we enter into the lives of others. Referring to students engaged in working with the poor, Peter Hans Kolvenbach, the former leader of Jesuits across the world, has said "When the heart is touched by direct experience, the mind may be challenged to change." The key movement that begins this process of learning and change is paying attention.

2. Be ReflectiveThe outcome of paying attention to our experience may be a complex variety of images, unrelated insights, feelings that lead in contradictory directions. To connect the parts of our experience into a whole, we need to examine data, test evidence, clarify relationships, understand causes and implications, weigh options in light of their possible consequences. We need, that is, to see the patterns in our experience and grasp their significance. Reflection is the way we discover and compose the meaning of our experience.Figuring out our experience can be an inward-looking activity -- identifying our gifts and the future they point us towards or confronting the prejudices, fears, and shortcomings that prevent us from being the kind of people we want to be -- but it can also mean looking outward -- at the questions that philosophy and theology pose to us, at subjects like biology and finance and economics and the different ways they organize and interpret the world and help us understand ourselves. In either direction, the goal is the freedom that comes from knowing ourselves, understanding the world, and finding the direction that God is disclosing for our lives in and through our experience.Reflection is a kind of reality-testing. It takes time and care. Ultimately, it is the work of intelligence, which is why Jesuit education has always emphasized intellectual excellence. There is no substitute for using the minds God gave us, to understand our experience and discover its meaning.

3. Be LovingBeing attentive is largely about us and how God is working in us through our experience. Being reflective moves our gaze outward, measuring our experience against the accumulated wisdom of the

world. Being loving requires that we look even more closely at the world around us. It asks the question: How are we going to act in this world?In part, this is a question about what we are going to do with the knowledge and self-understanding and freedom that we have appropriated by reflection. How shall we act in ways that are consistent with this new self and what it knows and values?But we can't move very far in the direction of answering this question without discovering that it is not only a question about how our lives can be authentic. It is also a question about our relationship to the world around us and what the world needs us to do. We are not solitary creatures. From the womb, we live in relationships with others, grow up in cultural, social, and political institutions that others have created for us. To be human is to find our place in these relationships and these institutions, to take responsibility for them, to contribute to nurturing and improving them, to give something back.We can understand this in quite secular terms if we choose to, but through the eyes of faith there is an even more compelling reason for thinking and living this way. Ignatius ends his Spiritual Exercises with a consideration of love. For him growing in love is the whole point of the spiritual life. He suggests two principles to help us understand love. One is that love shows itself more by deeds than by words. Action is what counts, not talk and promises. This is why Jesuit education is incomplete unless it produces men and women who will do something with their gifts.More profoundly, Ignatius says that love consists in communication. One who loves communicates what he or she has with another. Thus, lovers desire each other's good, give what they have to one another, share themselves. It is easy to see this communication in two people in love. For Ignatius, however, love was most dramatically evident in the relationship that God has with human beings. Two examples of this are central in the Exercises. First, God creates the world and gives life to everything in it. People and things come into existence because God communicates God's own self to them. And God continues working in each person and thing in its own specific reality and at every moment. God keeps wanting to be in relationship with us, even when we fail to respond. Second, surpassing even the gift of creation is the gift God has given us in the person of Jesus. God's taking on our human nature in order to heal our brokenness is the ultimate evidence of God's love for us. Jesus' life and death are, for Ignatius, the model of how to love in return.If every human being is so loved by God, then our loving relationships do not stop with the special people we choose to love, or with our families, or with the social class or ethnic group we belong to. We are potentially in love with the whole world.So, for Jesuit education, it is not enough to live authentically in the world. We have to participate in the transformation of the world (the Hebrew phrase tikkun olam conveys the same idea, of mending or repairing the world). For more than four hundred and fifty years, it has been said that Jesuit education educated "the whole person." Today, we live with an increasingly global sense of what it means to be human. A person can't be considered "whole" without an educated solidarity with other human beings in their hopes and fears and especially in their needs. We can't pay attention to our experience and reflect on it without realizing how our own lives are connected with the dreams of all those with whom we share the journey of human existence, and therefore with the economic, political, and social realities that support or frustrate their dreams. This is why Jesuit education is so often said to produce "men and women for others."

The habit of discerning

Jesuit education, we have said, is a process that has three key parts, being attentive, being reflective, and being loving. It results in the kind of good decision-making that Ignatius called "discernment." The goal of Jesuit education is to produce men and women for whom discernment is a habit.We can think of discernment as the lifelong project of exploring our experience, naming its meaning, and living in a way that translates this meaning into action. We can also think of this process as something we focus on with special intensity at particular moments in our lives -- during the four years of college, for example, or when we have to make important decisions and want to do so freely and with a sense of what God is calling us to. At these times, we might be especially conscious of using spiritual exercises to help us negotiate the process. But we can also think of these three movements as the intertwined dynamics of daily life, the moment-by-moment activity of becoming fully human.

Arguably, it is the daily exercise of discernment that grounds the other kinds of spiritual growth -- the regular practice of attentiveness, reflection, and choosing through which our lives take on a meaningful direction. In fact, Ignatius thought that the most useful kind of prayer is to spend a few minutes each day deepening our awareness of how God works in the events of the day and how we respond, a practice he called an examen. I begin by calling to mind that God is involved in shaping the direction of my life and I ask for light about this. Then, I review the events of the day, especially those where my feelings have been most engaged, positively or negatively. I notice the patterns and the emerging insights about which experiences lead me towards God and which lead away. And I end by looking ahead to tomorrow and asking to live with a growing sense of God's trust in my future.For Ignatius, a key element of discerning is the exercise of imagination. In doing the examen, he suggests we use our imaginations to elicit the feelings that have pulled us one way or another during the day and to picture how we might live differently tomorrow. In the Exercises, when he is advising us how to pray, he urges us to take a passage from the Gospels and imagine ourselves present in the scene, listening to the words of the people there, experiencing their feelings, and he asks us to elicit our own feelings in response. And, in the account of his very earliest spiritual experiences, he tells us that, while he was recovering from his wounds, he used to lie on his bed by the open window of his room and contemplate the stars, lost in reveries about the great deeds he would accomplish, at first for the princess he was in love with, and then for Jesus. Even in old age, when he spent his days sitting at a desk in Rome administering the affairs of the Society, he would go to the roof of the Jesuit residence in the evening and look at the stars in order to see his life as God saw it. Finding images that embody our dreams can be a lifelong form of prayer.In the practice of discerning, we grow in being able to imagine how we are going to live our lives. We discover our vocations. The novelist and theologian Frederick Buechner describes vocation as "the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet." When we arrive at this place, and understand the fit between who we are and what the world needs of us, Ignatius urges us to be unafraid to live with the consequences of this realization, to respond with generosity and magnanimity because this is the way we can love as God loves. Jesuit tradition uses the Latin word magis or "more" to sum up this ideal, a life lived in response to the question: How can I be more, do more, give more? Jesuit education is complete when its graduates embody this vision of life and work.

Jesuit Education TodayIn the South Asian Assistancy, there are 28 Jesuit colleges and 1 university and 355 primary and high schools. The first of these

was established in Goa in 1542. St. Paul's College was a Jesuit school, and later college, founded by saint Francis

Xavier, at Old Goa. It was once the main Jesuit institution in the whole of Asia. It housed the first printing press in India, having published the first books in 1556. The original building, however,

was abandoned progressively after the outbreak of plague in 1578, and went into disuse as the college moved to new building

known as the New College of Saint Paul.

Xavier University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, (2013), the first Digital University in India, is the first ever Jesuit University in India. In South Asia we have rural and Urban schools catering to the needs of people. Jesuit education is still growing. In recent years, South Asian Jesuits and lay men and women have created innovative teaching methodology in schools. We have teachers animated by the vision of Jesuit education and the spirituality of Ignatius. Jesuit education continues to adapt old ideals to

new times and new needs.

Education in De Nobili School, FRI

School is a place which helps children develops according to their unique needs and potentials, with the purpose of developing every individual to their full potential. De Nobili, FRI, is one such place which believes in overcoming handicaps, achieving greater equality and nurturing boys and girls so that they become men and woman for others.

Education in DNS can be described as “formation taking over a period of time”. It goes beyond mere schooling and simple instructions. Here students are encouraged to recognize their God-given dignity and worth. They are confronted with challenges to excellence that they may appreciate and foster their talents. When our students leave the campus, they do so with the right proportion and quality of knowledge, skills and values to become employable, efficient and effective.

Learning the basic school subjects: The first and foremost strength of our school is imparting organized and effective basic academic knowledge. It includes language development, reading, spelling and writing, appreciation of literature and acquiring wide range of mathematical, scientific as well as computer skills. Transmitting traditional culture through formal teaching of Art and Craft, music, and dance skills by dedicated and qualified teachers is another high point of DNS, FRI.

Character building: Preparing students who are morally sound and spiritually oriented is even more important than basic literacy. In the lives of young children, school’s influence is more important than that of the home. Students at DNS, FRI are helped through their experiences at school, to grow healthy emotionally and become humans with high degree of empathy, achievement, motivation, social sensitivity and similar attributes of a modern man.

Cooperative learning: Education is a co-operative enterprise. Hence, students in DNS,FRI are trained, through various programs and projects, to plan and work with others, to promote team spirit and to acquire the skills required for group activities.

Personality development through participation in Co-curricular and Extra- curricular Activities: It is true that only educated and competent individuals can make society good and prosperous. Preparing individuals for taking up social responsibilities as well as training in leadership is a major concern at DNS FRI. Through various activities, space throughout the academic calendar, students at DNS FRI get chance for all-round development of their personality. The spacious playgrounds beckon the students to make proper use of daily games period. Sit and Draw, Essay and Writing contests, Elocution, One Act play, Recitation and Talent Hunt, Prayer services, Bulletin Board displays, Quizzes and Club activities help discover and develop the talent of the students.

The ‘We’ factor: Students in DNS FRI grow with the spirit of fraternity which ensures cooperation and rapport. Students, teachers, parents and even non-teaching staff are bonded with love, sympathy, understanding and fellow feeling. Children are taught to respect and understand the point of view of other social and religion groups. No discrimination, whatsoever, is made on the basis of gender, caste, creed, status or religion. This ‘oneness’ makes every student of DNS a true Nobilian.

Empowerment of girl child: Junior section, DNS,FRI is now a full-fledged co-educational institute providing a very friendly and healthy environment to our girl students. Empowerment of girls and their participation in all spheres of school activity is given a prime importance. All efforts are being made to inculcate mutual respect and promote healthy relationship between boys and girls.

Smart classes and use of multimedia: Media in today’s context, perhaps, plays the most vital role in socialization, acculturation and information dissemination. DNS, FRI has provided students access to modern educational technology which is helping the students tremendously by giving them new learning experiences. A well-equipped Computer Lab provides each and every child an opportunity to hone their computer skills. Smart classes allow the teachers to handle large amount of information complete with audio, video , picture as well as text.

DNS,FRI represents a “little society” by itself, a place where Nobilians interact, learn and grow together.

Here young individuals “learn to live together” as a big family and actualize their potentialities- Physical, mental, emotional, social as well as spiritual. Young minds are provided a favourable environment and care for their flowering,

Mahatma Gandhi said: “By education, I mean an all-round drawing out of the best in child and man: body mind and spirit”.

It is a small step towards the fulfillment of this goal that we strive.

Mr. C.S. FrancisVice Principal, De Nobili School, FRI, Dhanbad

Editorial Board Member of JEA NL

NEWS MAKER

CONGRATULATIONS TO MRS. JENNIFER DIAS,PRINCIPAL OF ST. XAVIER’S SCHOOL, MUMBAI,

for receiving the coveted

British Council Award for Excellence.(1st December, 2014)

KNOW OUR SCHOOLS

GUJARAT JESUIT SCHOOLS IN NUMBERS

Name of the School Address

Total Student

s

St. Xavier’s High SchoolCATHOLIC ASHRAM,

Mankroda – BHILODA, Dt.: Sabarkantha 383 245.

St. Joseph's Higher Secondary School

Nava Yard, Chhani Road, VADODARA 390 002.

725

Rosary school VADODARA 390 002. 1202

St. Xavier’s High School MANDALI, Post: Ambliasan, Dt. Mehsana 382 732.

3456

St. Xavier’s School Kalol, Dt.: Gandhinagar 382 721.

549

St. Xavier’s School Sector 8, GANDHINAGAR 382 008.

1515

Navjyot High School SUBIR, Dt.: Dang. 394716 2418

St. Xavier’s High School Gamdi, ANAND 388 001. 640

Shantiniketan High School Isunath Mandir, Zankhvav, Dt. : Surat 394 440.

1967

St. Xavier’s High School KARUNA SADAN, KHAMBHAT 388 620.

1183

St. Xavier's High School Ghod Dod Road, SURAT 395 001.

790

Devalaya School

Fulwadi, Bensdara, Ta: Dharampur, Dt.: Valsad 396

0502541

St. Xavier's Loyola HallLoyola Hall, Naranpura, AHMEDABAD 380 013.

994

St. Xavier's High School Station Road, BHARUCH 392 001.

3019

St. Mary's High SchoolADIVASI SEVALAYA, VIJAYNAGAR, Dt.:

Sabarkantha 383 460.787

Vimla Mary SchoolCATHOLIC ASHRAM, P. B. No.

7, DHANDHUKA, Dt. Ahmedabad 382 460.

726

CAMPION SCHOOL, BHOPALCELEBRATED GOLDEN JUBILEE

(1 -2 Dcember, 2014)

General Information

Government of India has well planned scheme for educational empowerment. The Government is well aware that a transformation of the society is possible only through empowering people through education. So, there are number of schemes have been introduced and implemented to the welfare of education. These same schemes are being misused or appropriated by certain organizations with their political and ideological link, so that they can control the system. As educationists it is good for us to know various measures of elementary and secondary educational level done by the government of India. Here I am giving you information about minority welfare scheme of HRD ministry for us to know and seeing the possibilities of greater utilization of such schemes.

Sunny Jacob SJ

School Education & Literacy

Elementary Education Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

Mid Day Meal

Strengthening of Teachers Training Institute

Schemes for Infrastucture Development of Private Aided/Unaided Minority Institutes (IDMI)

Mahila Samakhya

Strengthening for providing quality Education in Madrassas ( SPQEM)

Secondary Education Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA)

Inclusive Education for Disable at Secondary Stage ( IEDSS )

Incentives to Girls at Secondary Stage

National Merit cum Means Scholarship

Financial Assitance for Appointment of language Teachers

Adolescene Education Programme

Girls Hostel

Model School

ICT at School

Vocationalisation of Secondary Education

Model School Under Public- Private Partnership(PPP)Mode

Adult Education Saakshar Bharat

State Resource Center (SRCs)

Jan Shikshan Sansthans(JSSs)

Assistance to Voluntary Agencies

Teacher Education Centrally Sponsored Scheme

Scheme for Infrastructure Development in Minority Institutes (IDMI)

IDMI has been operationalised to augment Infrastructure in Private Aided/Unaided Minority Schools/Institutions in order to enhance quality of education to minority children. The salient features of IDMI scheme are:

The scheme would facilitate education of minorities by augmenting and strengthening school infrastructure in Minority Institutions in order to expand facilities for formal education to children of minority communities.

The scheme will cover the entire country but, preference will be given to minority institutions (private aided/unaided schools) located in districts, blocks and towns having a minority population above 20%,

The scheme will inter alia encourage educational facilities for girls, children with special needs and those who are most deprived educationally amongst minorities.

The scheme will fund infrastructure development of private aided/unaided minority institutions to the extent of 75% and subject to a maximum of Rs. 50 lakhs per institution for strengthening of educational infrastructure and physical facilities in the existing school including additional classrooms, science / computer lab rooms, library rooms, toilets, drinking water facilities and hostel buildings for children especially for girls.

For more detals about IDMI Scheme click here

IDMI Evaluation Report

Year-wise financial and physical progress under IDMI

Institutes supported under IDMI

Status of UC's under IDMI

1st CGIAC Minutes for IDMI and SPQEM held on 27.08.2014

Dear Friends

We request all the PCE’s to send us news, views and new initiatives etc. of the schools of your province, in brief to us. We will have our JEA News Letter, JESUIT EDUCATION 2020 published every quarter.

Let us communicate our Urban and Rural school initiatives to all.

We are one, under one network asJesuit Schools

Editorial TeamSunny Jacob S.J.Bob Slatery S.J.

Jennifer DiasChandrashekhar Francis

Albert Joseph S.J.Amrit Rai S.J.

Erentius Minj S.J.Send your materials for publication to: jcsa.jea@gmail.com

International Commission for Jesuit Association of

Education (ICJAE) is going to Launch its international website in January 2015

www.educatemagis.com