The History and Legacy
With a history of 165 years, St. Paul’s High School has been at the forefront of education in Belgaum City. St. Paul’s is a premier institution renowned not just in the state of Karnataka or in India, but all over the world, with its alumni placed in important positions all over the globe. The Society of Jesus, popularly known as the Jesuits, who run this institution are not content to merely rest on their laurels but are constantly looking for ways and means to upgrade the school in keeping with the latest trends and developments in the field of education.
Changing Times
Over the years, trends in the field of education have shown that the standard of school education under the State Board has gradually declined and this has also affected the results of the school. Rampant corruption and excessive interference from the Department of Education in the day to day running of the school has crippled school education and the excessive demands from the Department for all types of mundane data has led to teachers becoming efficient clerks and not finding enough time to prepare their lessons. All this has led to the decline of secondary education under the State Board. Besides, the city of Belgaum, once a sleepy town, has grown by leaps and bounds and similarly the aspirations of the people of Belgaum. Earlier Belgaumites were satisfied with getting minimum education and working odd jobs in their own areas, but today many parents want their children to get the type of education that will help them to answer competitive exams and secure jobs in any part of the world. Thus, they are not satisfied with merely the Secondary School Certificate provided by the State Board, which promotes literacy for all, but want a higher standard of education like that provided by Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE), Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), IB School or Cambridge International.
The Birth of St. Paul’s Jesuit School (ICSE)
A plan to start a CBSE/ICSE school at St.Paul’s has been in the mind of the Jesuit educationists managing the school for several years, but somehow the plan never got materialized. When Fr. Savio Abreu SJ took over as Principal of St.Paul’s in June 2020, the outgoing principal, Fr.Pedro Rodrigues SJ shared with him, that one of his dreams which didn’t materialise during his tenure, was to start an ICSE school. Taking the cue from him, Fr. Savio took up the plan of a new ICSE school in the School Management Committee (SMC) meeting. After getting the support of the SMC, the management consulted with Fr. Pius Fernandes SJ (Principal of Loyola School, Jamshedpur) who has been in the teaching profession associated with ICSE schools for the past 35 years. He was very cooperative and supportive and his support and encouragement boosted the management and this led us to take up this proposal in various forums like the St. Paul’s Jesuit Community, School Executive Committee, School Staff, PTA, etc.
With a deadline to start the school in June 2021, the months of March and April 2021 were very important. For addressing the apprehensions and doubts about the new project, the Provincial organised an ‘Extended Consult’ on 12th March 2021 at St.Paul’s to discuss the pros and cons of starting a new school. The province consultors and some selected members of the Goa Jesuit Province met that day and after a guided tour of the school campus, presentation by Fr. Savio, and question and answer session, extended their full support to the new venture. The formal approval to start St.Paul’s Jesuit School ICSE came from the Provincial on 17th following which a new trust ‘Jnana Deepa Educational and Charitable Trust’ was formed and the new school was registered under this new trust. The government procedures began with an application for registration of the proposed new school, followed by a site inspection of the infrastructure and other facilities of the proposed school by officials of the Department of Education, Belagavi District and culminated in the new school being registered by the Education Deptartment (Block Education Office City Range, Belagavi) under the name “St.Paul’s Jesuit School (ICSE)” on 22nd April, a red letter day in the history of this new school.
The school was formally inaugurated on 31st July 2021, the feast of St. Ignatius, the founder of the Jesuits. It is presently housed in the Sunbeam building, and has begun with six staff handling the LKG and UKG. The management is in process of building a new campus to house this school, beside the Visvesvaraya Technological University, and aims to achieve this by 2025.