Fifty Years Old is Pure Gold
”It all began in the 1940s - an era when an average Indian girl was far from being progressive and even further from receiving equal rights. It was a time when the world was facing the turmoils and blows of the last world war. Jamshedpur was declared a war zone and the existing schools of the city were closed. In such a background of events, two sisters of the institution of the Apostolic Carmel dared to embark upon the idea of starting a convent school in the steel city “to fill the gap badly needed to make Jamshedpur the premier city of Bihar”. The foresight was commendable.
On the fourteenth of January 1945, Rev Mother Josephine and Mother Theodosia (Principal of Patna Women’s College) met Mr J. R. D. Tata (Chairman of Tata Iron and Steel Company), along with Sir Ardeshir Dalal (Special Director) and Sir J. J. Ghandy (Resident Director). The meeting was historic. It was a moment of eternal harmony and poetic truth stretching beyond time and place - as if it was arranged by the Lord Himself to bring together two institutions so similar in their ideas and ideals. Perhaps, that is why the different nomenclature of the ‘Sacred Heart’ School as compared to the other Mount Cannel’ schools, holds a deeper significance.
Tatas, the international pioneers of industrial humanity have succeeded to an appreciable extent, in inculcating among its people a culture which transcends petty barriers of religion, caste and creed. The Sacred Heart School has, on the other hand, carried out the immaculate task of grooming the girls of Jamshedpur. Since the last fifty years every student who has passed out of this school is not merely a specimen of what she has inherited from her family but more of what the school has made her. One of the biggest contributions of this school is evident in the prospect of every ex-student who is a mother today - who is imparting to her children a more refined form of the values which she had picked up during her own formative period. And thus the chain continues from one generation to another and moves towards the progress of humanity.
In 1953, when the first batch of students passed out of the Sacred Heart School, the city of Jamshedpur was proud to have a batch of well-accomplished self-confident ladies, ready to meet all kinds of challenges - be it within the country or abroad. Today, when the school is celebrating its Golden Jubilee, it is a pleasure to remember its students scattered all over the globe as diplomats, administrators, scientists, doctors, engineers, scholars, writers, artists and the like. It is also a matter of immense pride that the present First Lady of the Tata Iron and Steel Company (Daisy Irani) is a Sacred Heart alumnus.
May the Almighty bless the Sacred Heart Convent School.
Dr. Mini Singh Sandhu
Department of English -
The Graduate School-College for Women
Jamshedpur
As published in the Sacred Heart Convent School Golden Jubilee Souvenir