Chairperson's Message
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.