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INDIA: Challenging the status quo through education
By John Newton
A child learning the alphaget at a Catholic school in India
Church-run schools in north India are key to helping some of the country’s poorest people escape the poverty trap, a priest has said.
Father Varghese Vithayathil, Provincial Superior of the Congregation of Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI), told Aid to the Church in Need that education was crucial to a brighter future for ‘dalit’ converts living in Bijnor Diocese and the surrounding area.
He described how development work among the dalits was one of the Church’s priorities, as the government is not providing much help for them.
“It is our task to teach them about their rights, develop them,” he explained. “Education is the most important thing.
“We are having many schools, because without a school there is no development.”
Most converts to Christianity are dalits – the very lowest caste in Indian society, historically referred to as ‘untouchables’.
Father Vithayathil said: “The message of Jesus is directly addressed to them [the dalits] – peace, forgiveness, love. They are more attracted to Christ than the upper caste.”
The priest went on to explain how schools are also vital in catechetical and evangelisation work.
He said: “[In the schools] we can communicate the message of Jesus very easily, a message of peace and harmony.
Currently there are both Hindi and English-medium schools.
Father Vithayathil said: “Parents want English-medium schools – it is the computer age and the internet is seen as very important. Without English [there is] no future, so English education is becoming very important.”
There are 14 schools in Bijnor diocese, helping approximately 20,000 children. Nine of these employ English as the language of instruction and the other five use Hindi.
There are also eight English-medium schools in the provinces teaching around 15-16,000 children.
For many children, English is new to them and has to be mastered.
Father Vithayathil said: “It is difficult in the beginning but they pick it up. In 7th or 8th standard [age 12-13] they can speak English fluently.
“Even village people, they want to send children to school, but have to send children to work in the field to support the family – far off villages.”
He described how the Carmelites are hoping to start more schools in rural areas, but need money to set them up and dedicated personnel to run them.
The Church is making a big impact in the area, where literacy is currently only 40 percent. This figure has grown by 8-10 percent since the Church started its schools.
Father Vithayathil explained how the founder of the CMI, Blessed Kuriakose Elias Chavara, ordered priests to have schools attached to their parishes in Kerala. “He said without schools there is no parish,” he added.
The CMI is part of the ancient Syro-Malabar Church, which traces its lineage back to the Apostle Thomas.
It was the first indigenous religious congregation in the Catholic Church in India.
There were no Christians in Bijnor until three priests from the CMI arrived in Bijnor in 1972. Father Vithayathil estimated that there are now more than 36,000 Christians in the diocese and around 70 priests, not including priests working in outlying provinces.
Aid to the Church in Need is helping the CMI’s education work by supporting the order’s priests through Mass stipends.