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    Chairperson's Message



    Rev. Mother Dr.  Leema Rosario, M.A., M.Ed., M.Phil., Ph.D

    Education in its current form is concerned with the transmission of knowledge. A quality education has the power to transform individuals and societies. W. B. Yeats exhorts Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. Some people interpret quality in education as academic excellence as seen in marks. I see it as an integral development of individuals as well as creating a sense of responsibility towards the world.  In 1947, Jawaharlal Nehru in his address to the graduates of the Allahabad University said that Higher Education stands for humanism, for tolerance, for reason, for the adventure of ideas and for the search of truth. It stands for the onward march of the human race toward higher objectives. These words focus on the formation of character. Education should not be an activity that involves only uploading information to the students. But it should be a noble mission in which character is formed and the intellect is expanded. When they leave our institutions, they should be competent, committed and compassionate persons. Education is the manifestation of the perfection already in humans. Ultimately each one should work towards a society in which peace, justice and love rule the supreme.

    Higher Education provides the power to discern, to challenge, to appreciate, to be positive and different and be fully human and fully alive. The ultimate goal of education is the insertion of the young person into society as responsible citizens. The educational institution plays an important role in articulating and imparting value systems. They help students to develop their talents, form their character and establish personal identity. They also facilitate social interaction and inculcate social responsibility.

    We, the sisters of St. Anne, do not start colleges for material gain. We consider always that our education is a noble mission in which the students undergo all-around formation. We take preferential potion for the girls who hail from the marginalized section of the society. It is with this intention we establish colleges. We receive this vision from our Mother Foundress Thatipathri Gnanamma. She contemplated over the situation and empathized with women of her time in the 19th century who were deprived of education and thus marginalized. She discerned that all her energies should be employed to dispel the darkness that enveloped the poor girls in Kilacheri village, Tamil Nadu. She lit the candle of education and enlightened women to withstand the challenges of life. The most important act that Our Mother Foundress did at that time was to listen to the cry of the poor girls and become compassionate to form them into competent and committed people.

    Informs - The education that we impart informs the current trends and knowledge in all disciplines, i.e. in Science, Arts and Commerce.

    Re-forms  This information and knowledge re-forms their character by exposing them to proper and appropriate social reality.

    Transforms - This reformation finally transforms our students into competent, committed and compassionate persons.

    Forms -  This gives them a formation that enables them to be value-based, sociable, employable, reliable, and skillful persons.

    The education of St. Annes is to INFORM appropriate knowledge in order to REFORM their character to TRANSFORM them as competent, committed and compassionate persons and finally it gives a FORM of personality that is skilled, able and noble. 

    Informing Education

    Today's world is Wikipedia world. It is a Google world. If we want information, if we need a definition of a word, it is available at the click of a key. Access to knowledge is easy today. The problem we face is that we do not know what to choose from loads of information. It poses a challenge to our skills and talent. We are called to discern and choose appropriate, reliable and accurate information and knowledge. Discernment is to identify what is good and appropriate and what is not. Our education should teach this sense of discernment. Not only mere information of data. We should be informed about the people who suffer oppression and face injustice and the reasons for their suffering. Arm chair education is not useful to create a better world. Our education should be linked with the reality outside. This information has the quality that help reform one's character.

    Reforming Education

    The information we gather in the classroom should be able to reform the character of a student. It is a re-forming act. It forms the person again. The way, the students are brought up in families may not be always good. Therefore, the knowledge which a student gains in the college must purify her. Hence re- forming is like the goal that is put in the fire. It undergoes a melting process. In this way, education aims at liberation. It is liberation from bondage. It is liberation from ignorance. It is liberation from backwardness and gravitational pulls of the lower human nature. This process of liberation happens when we read a book and when we watch a film. When a book explains an idea, we are engaged with that idea. There the process of growth starts. Automatically there is a feeling within that guides us toward change. Now we feel yes, I need to change. It should come from the bottom of the heart, not a head-level rational thinking or intention. Every teaching session should give the students this feeling. If there is no such feeling to change, it is not real education. This feeling to change leads a student towards transformation.

    Transforming Education

    The information and reformation that a student goes through should further take her to a process of transformation of her character. This is why education in India is viewed as an evolutionary force. This evolutionary force enables both the individual and the collectivity to evolve various faculties and to integrate them with the superior intellectual, ethical, aesthetic and spiritual powers. It aims at developing a new type of humanity highly humane, cultured and integrated. This makes a person to be competent, committed and compassionate person.

    Competent should be treated as being intelligent. It is not intellectual gain. But competency is a talent and ability to face with needed skill and knowledge. A student who learns computer skills should be able to gain employment - we call this as employability. The competence we talk here means not only employability, but it is also an ability to handle life in a mature way. Competence is a state of maturity of personality.

    A committed person is a single-minded person committed to a goal and an aim. She is passionate to achieve that goal. She is not the person who thinks of neither nor, but either or. She has definite goals and decisive actions. She breathes that goal and sleeps with that and dreams of achieving that goal. This is single-mindedness. Our higher education should teach us to become single-minded persons, committed to a goal and passionate to achieve that goal.

    A competent and committed person should also be a compassionate person. The committed person is a naturally other-centered person who always thinks that the well-being of others is more important than mine. This makes a person selfless person and an other-full person. This value automatically takes this committed person to work for social change where every tear is wiped out and every oppressed person is liberated. It comes from the formation that the person receives in her college time.

    Forming Education

    Our education should aim at information of appropriate knowledge, reformation of a person and formation of character. If education produces only people with good character, it is useless. What is important is that they should also be capable of improving the economy of the country by inventing innovative ways of technology. This is the responsibility of students. It is an ability to respond to situations to find ways to resolve conflicts and produce new technology. At the same time, a student must strive to promote a well-balanced human personality, for the good of society in this world.

    We, the sisters of St. Anne, are committed to this kind of quality education. We want to inform appropriate knowledge and reform the person into competent, committed and compassionate person. Finally, our students will be able to transform this society by being formed as value-based, sociable, employable, reliable, and skillful persons. Our colleges work towards this defined objective, the Charism of our congregation. This makes us stand above the rest.

    Let our consciousness evolve with a vision to awaken humanity and
    bestow on it a breath of life.