St. John the Evangelist High School Marol Andheri
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St. John the Evangelist School is located in Andheri, Mumbai (India). It follows the syllabus as prescribed by the Maharashtra state board of education. To the prescribed syllabus, capstone writing it provides additional co-curricular and extra-curricular activities.
Subject teachers design their own programs as per syllabus and prepare their own presentation, from which the children benefit greatly. They also use the Knowledge centre available on campus .
The children have a wide choice of activities ranging from games to music, from dance to public speaking. The community and parents desire to see St. John the Evangelist developing in to a fine institution.
St. John the Evangelist is committed to providing a learning environment that will identify and meet the learning needs of all students with the support and assistance of parents and community.
St. John the Evangelist Parish was under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Goad up to 1886 and thereafter under the Bishop of Daman up to 1928. The clergy were in the earlier years, natives of Portugal and in the later years from Goa and a few from Bombay and Salsette as well. Their own education was in Portuguese and/ or in Konkani languages. In the context of the times and the situation in which they functioned in these regions, their educational mission was largely to educate the neophytes in Christian doctrine and practice. Their medium of instruction was the Portuguese language. The Marol Parish Church, at its beginning in 1840, had a Primary School attached to it with about 40 boys being taught through the Portuguese language. The School continued till 1882 and probably a few years more, teaching the rudiments of the Portuguese language, Christian doctrine and music.
The British acquired Bombay in 1665 and Salsette in 1774. Hence, the language of administration and commerce gradually become English. Schools teaching in the English medium began to be established in Bombay Island by lay effort-the first was the John Baretto Charity School at Cavel in about 1778. This School was originally founded to teach " Lating, Portuguese and English". Latin was dropped quickly and English too was dropped in 1840. However, from 1888, Portuguese was dropped and English alone continued. The Antonio de Souza School at Gloria Church, Mazagaon, was started in 1797. According to deSouza's will, the School was to teach in Portuguese and Latin languages. The School was taken over by Fr. Peniston, S.J. in 1856, when it started teaching in English also. St. Theresa's School, Girgaum, was started in 1844, followed by the Schools established by the Bombay-Poona Jesuit Mission from 1853 onwards – St. Mary's Mazagaon, in 1864 and St. Xavier's, Dhobi Talao, in 1869 and St. Xavier's College in 1869. The Antonio D'Silva School, Dadar, was started in 1875. Schools for girls were also opened early in Bombay. The Nuns of Jesus and Mary started a convent in Fort in 1855 (transferred to Wode- house Road in 1904), a convent in Parel in 1865 and a convent at Byculla in 1884 (finally settled). The Daughters of the Cross started a convent at Dadar in 1875. However, there were no English medium teaching schools in Salsette and Bassein, excepting St. Stanislaus', which began as an Orphanage at Bandra (1863) and St. Joseph's Convent, Bandra (completed in 1878). These last two institutions were raised by Propaganda. It was not until the Bombay East Indian Association was formed in 1887, that education in English medium got a start in Salsette and Bassein. The Association established immediately English medium Schools at Papdi, Amboli, Orlem, Malwani, Uttan and Thane. On its own, Marol was a pioneer in this respect. As early as in 1870, Mr. D. V. Misquitta started an English medium School in Marol. There were some difficulties and the School closed down after about ten years. Nearly a decade passed, when five Parishioners: Mr. J. J. George (Marol), Mr. N. F. D'Mello (Gundavli) and Mr. E. G. Coelho (Condita/Mahim) established the first regular English Primary Scholl in January 1889. These gentlemen provided the premises for the School and met its expenses. In 1891, they obtained the support of the Bombay East Indian Association, which made a monthly contribution towards its maintenance till 1920. The trustees of the Kurla Estate also made a monthly contribution from 1892. Yearly contributions under the will of J.J. D'Almeida, donations and contributions from some prominent East Indians and from villagers helped support the School. The School was earlier getting some grant-in-aid from the District School Board and then from the Government.
The School celebrated its Silver Jubilee on the 7TH December 1931. The Honourable Mr. R.W.L. Dunlop, CIE, presided over the Jubilee celebration as well as over the annual proze distribution function. A 'Retrospect' was published to mark the Jubilee. The Retrospect noted that prior to the establishment of this School, opportunities of getting even elementary education in English were almost nil. When the School began, the number of students in it was "very small". After 25 years, i.e. in 1913, the number on the rolls to 104, with three teachers. In 1923, when the new School Building was opened, surprisingly, the number came down to 75. At the time of the Golden Jubilee in 1939, the number had risen to 58 boys and 57 girls.
As the number of students gradually increased, the School Committee of Management (consisting of 7 parishioners) initially proposed in 1909 to acquire from Tatas land behind the Parish Church for constructing a new School building. The proposal was, however, given up as the Committee felt that the land was not suitable Meanwhile, the Committee secured accommodation from 1931 onwards in two rented separate house in the village. (These house still exist). The Committee continued their efforts to find another suitable site, with a playground. They also launched an appeal for funds and by the end of 1915, were able to collect a sum of about RS.4,000/-. They finally purchased from Pascoal Jose Souza and Jacinto Francis Souza the present site on 19th January 1961 for the price of Rs. 400/-. The Site was secured through the intervention of Mr. P. J. Creado, our parishioner. Mr. Creado was for several years the Vice-Chairman of the Committee of Management. The area of the site was 20 gunthas (2020 sq. meters). The foundation stone of the new building – the original E-W ground floor structure – was blessed and laid on the 5th March 1961 by His Grace Dr. Sebastian Jose Pereira, Archbishop – Bishop of Daman. Simultaneously, the School, which was till then called the ' Marol English School' was christened as ' St. John the Evangelist School' and placed under his patronage. Further progress, how ever could not be made for some time. Because of continuance of World War I (1914-1918), funds got dry. When the war stopped, vigorous drive for donations was reumed, funds collected and the building was completed. Major donations amounted to Rs. 18,000/ – and the total cost was higher than that figure. A flight of steps from the road upwards was built in 1938 at a cost of Rs. 600/-. The flight was reconstructed sometime later. The new building was blessed on 10th June 1923 by Rt. Rev. Mons. L. C. Pera, Vicar-General and Administrator of the Diocese of Daman. On the same day, the opening ceremony was performed by Mr. J.R Martin, ICS, Commissioner of the Bombay Division. The School (Primary level) gained Government recognition in the same year, with grant-in-aid.
A great part of this achievement must be credited to late Mr. John M. Gracias, our parishioner, who spent over 50 years from 1891 onwards in cause of education of the Parish. He was the Secretary of the School Committee of Management for many years and then its Chairman. He was also the member, and later the Chairman of the Bombay suburban District School Board. A Trust Deed for Management of the School was executed by the Committee on 12th April 1927 and registered at the Sub-Registry at Bandra on 15th September 1927. The first Trustees were: Mr. Elias G. Coelho (Chairman), Mr. John M. Gracias (Secretary), Mr. Nicholas F.D'Souza, Mr. Joseph B. Fernandes, Mr. Anthony P. Creado, Mr. John F. D'Mello, Mr. Joseph A Pimenta, and Mr. L. A. D'Mello. Indeed, these very gentlemen had constituted the earlier Committee of Management. Later Mr. John M. Gracias and Mr. Joseph A. Pimenta became the Chairman and Secretary, respectively, under the Trust Deed.
They held these positions for many years and attended devotedly to the administration of the School right till 1947 upto which year the School was with Trustees. Mr. Gracias and Mr. Pimenta went to their eternal reward in 1953 and 1963, respectively. It is but proper that we record our gratitude to all these pioneers of education in this Parish. It may be added that as St. John's was a recognized school in this region then, the children of the neighbouring villages of Condita, Chakala, Sahar and Bamanpuri attended this School for their primary education.
With Provincial Autonomy in 1935, Governments at the Center and the Provinces (States) were gradually Indianised. They started taking keen interest in education and issued policy directives to govern its conduct. The Church too began to exercise greater control over education. A Diocesan (today Archdiocesan) Board of Education was established in 1940. Its membership included Managers and Principals of all Catholic Schools and Colleges and a few educationists. Its objective was and it today the coordination and promotion of the Catholic educational system. In such a situation, management of a school became a somewhat difficult task for laymen. Also, all-round education could be better imparted by trained priests. The Trustees therefore, took the far-reaching decision to transfer the School, together with the building, lands, equipment etc. to the Archbishop of Bombay. And, to their credit, they made the transfer. Free of any charges, by a Deed of Transfer, which was registered at the Sub-Registry, Bombay, on 30th October, 1946.
With the increase in population in and around Marol, there was urgent need of a larger school, teaching upto the Matriculation class. Fr. Aloysius Lobo, Principal from 1952-59, drew plans for the necessary extension: About one-third area of the western side of today's cemetery was then not enclosed within the compound. It was open land with a charnel well in it. Fr. Lobo started extension on this land in 1955 and built it upto the plinth level. However there was no further progress. Fr. Apollinarish D'Silva, Principal from 1959 to 1963, made some adjustments within the existing building and small extension so as to provide accommodation for introducing the Vth Standard and the K.G classes from 1963, decided, as a first stage, to extend the entire existing building. Work began in 1963 itself, Fr. Alvares received the support of the Parish and the Diocesan Board of Education. The building consisted of a hall admeasuring 75' x 25' and side rooms each 10' x 10' and a verandha 7' wide. The hall was converted into four class rooms of about 420 sq. ft. each and the verandha widened to 9'. A new floor was raised. This extension provided five new class rooms an extra room and two block of water-closets making available a total additional floor area of 3000 sq. ft. The construction cost was about 1,10,000/- plus an additional amount of about Rs. 50,000/- on other requirements, the School celebrated its Diamond Jubilee on 14 February 1965. Bishop Longinus Pereira and Bishop Willie Gomes graced the celebration with their presence. Bishop Pereira offered the Jubilee Pontifical High Mass, while Bishop Gomes blessed the extended premises and presided over the Jubilee function. His Eminence Cardinal Gracias sent a message of appreciation as also did the Minister of Education. A Requiem High Mass was offered for the souls of the former Trustees, benefactors, ex-students etc. on 15th February 1965. (The Diamond Jubilee should have been celebrated in 1964 but was held up for the year 1965 due to some unavoidable reasons).
The extension did not meet the requirements of a growing demand. Accordingly, further extension was taken up immediately. This consisted in the expansion of the existing ground and first floor E-W structure by a ground, first and second floor attached S-N structure, Thus, the building achieved a symmetrical L shape. The extension provided an additional area of 1720 sq.ft. on each floor (total about 5200 sq.ft.) The total cost of this extension was about Rs.3,00,000/- plus some additional amount for other requirements. This work was started in March 1965 and completed in April 1968.
The need for introducing higher classes was still pressing. Therefore even before the above extension work could be completed, fresh plans were drawn up for an additional school building to be constructed on the original playground at the road level. The building would accommodate the Secondary Section with a laboratory and a hall. This work began on 15TH April 1966. A project of such a magnitude was a daunting task, more so with limited finances. However Rev. Fr. A. Alvares, who began the work and Rev. Fr. M. C. Joseph, who nearly completed it, were men of vision and courage. They took up the challenge, The then parishioners too were enthusiastic and co-operated with them wholeheartedly. A number of them gave donations or load with interest/without interest, which were all repaid, Further, to augment the funds, two Fetes were held on the play-ground- the first in 1973 and the second, which was on a larger scale, in 1975, Then, on 26th February 1976, an Evening with Mahesh Kumar popular film-world artiste, together with his troupe, was organized on a grand scale in Bombay's famous Shankukhanand Hall Committees were set up to organize each of these functions with Mr. Valentine N. Pimenta as the Chairman. Alll the three functions were largely patronized and substantial amounts were collected for the school building. These amounts were supplemented by funds from the Parish Church. The building was completed by funds from the Parish Church. The building was completed in November 1978. The building consists of ground floor with three upper floors. The floor area is a little less than 10,000 sq.tf. each floor (the third floor is the School Hall). The cost of construction alone reckoned on the value of the Rupee a decade and half back, was over Rs. 16 lakhs. To this may be added the expenditure on providing the necessary facilities and amenities, such as m furniture fittings, library, equipment etc. Today the school is complete in all respects providing the requirements prescribed by the Education Departments of the Government, and the Municipal Corporation. Apart from the library and the laboratories, the school has kits for all games- cricket, hockey, football, and for athletics.
The School has a spacious Hall for social, cultural, educational and other functions. It has an artistic and functional stage with completed sound system and a baby-grand piano. The Hall is named as 'St John's Parish Hall'. It was blessed by Rev. Mons. Willie Nazareth, Vicar-General of Bombay, on 27th December 1978 (Patron's Feast Day). He also unveiled, on the same day, the portrait of His Grace Dr. Simon I. Pimenta, Archbishop of Bombay, a former student of the School and a son of the Parish.
The Municipal Completion Certificate was received on 29th January 1979. According to this Certificate the plinth area of the whole School complex is as under:
Upper building (L Shape): 11358 sq.ft.
Lower building (road level): 38829 sq.ft.
Total 50187 sq.ft.
The Secondary Section started in 1963 with the introduction of Std. Vth Higher classes were being introduction every year even as the buildings were coming up. The first batch of the SSC Examination (Std X) was sent up in March 1970. Out of the 20 who appeared 14 passed quite commendable for the first year. Thereafter the school has sent up students for the SSC examination every year, securing each year between 92%-98% success. Indeed, in 1974, the School secured 100% success.
In view of the commendable performance, the Secondary Section received recognition from Govt. as early as in 1969. This entitled the Section for Govt. grant-in-aid. The School was registered a public Trust under the Bombay Pubic Trust Act on 20thJune 1966.
The above statistics and details are quite impressive. However these are not the only criteria to assess the worth of St. John's. The School has always laid stress on the dictum that education must develop a complete life-moral, intellectual and cultural, St. John's encourages and takes part in extra-curricular activities, such as sports, games, completions and variety entertainments. St. John's is proud to proclaim that it has secured the first prize in 1983 in the Science Exhibition held by the Education Department the state of Maharashtra in inter-state Athletic Meets. Order and discipline are strictly observed so that the students leaving the portals of St. John have the stamp of honesty, sincerity and responsible citizenship imprinted on them.
Marathi School
Earlier, Marathi was and is to a good extent today, the language of Marol. The Government administration at the village level has been, and is even today, in Marathi. Hence a school in the Marathi language medium was started in about the last decade of the last century by the villagers. Many parishioners of the earlier generations and even those of the recent times, have studied Marathi and are fluent in it. The School was taken over by the Bombay Suburban District School Board in 1920 or so and then by the Municipal Corporation in 1964. We now have two Marathi School Buildings- the original in the heart of the village and the new four-storeyed at the southern end of the village. These Schools teach in Hindi and Urdu languages too.
LIST OF HEADMASTERS / PRINCIPAL OF ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST HIGH SCHOOL , MAROL.
Principals name years active
Rev Fr. Ivan Mascaranhas 1989- 1994
Rev Fr. Fancis Carvalho 1994-1999
Rev Fr. Leslie Almeida 1999- 2004
Rev Fr. Nelson Machado 2004-2010
Sr. Tara Ohol RJM 2010 – 2014
Sr. Victoria Sansare RJM 2014 – 2017
Sr. Josefina Albuquerque RJM 2018 – present
John and his brother, James, were the sons of Zebedee. Like his father and brother, John was a fisherman on lake Gennesaret until, with James,he was called by Jesus to follow him. John was the youngest of the apostles. He and James were called, " sons of thunder" by Jesus because of their volatile temperaments. John was the apostle closest to Jesus.
According to tradition John went to Rome during one of the early persecutions under Emperor Domitian and miraculously escaped martyrdom by emerging from a cauldron of boiling oil unscrathed. He was exiled to the island of Patmos where he began his writing with the Book of Revelation. Later, after the death of Domitian, John returned to Epheus where he wrote the fourth gospel and three epistles. He died there in about 100, the last surviving apostle and the only apostle who did not suffer martyrdom.
Johns writings are unique among the evangelists. In many of the events recorded by him,he writes as a playwright would, setting the stage, describing the characters, and presenting the dialogue which took place. Three examples of his quality found in his gospel are Jn4:5 – 42(the woman at the well): Jn9: 1 – 41 (the man born blind); and Jn 11: 1 – 45 (Lazarus raised from the dead).
St. John the Evangelist is often called St. John the Divine in England and in the Eastern Church.
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