Austine Vas

The St. Mary’s School I.C.S.E was founded in 1864 by members of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), a Roman Catholic religious order founded by Ignatius of Loyola in 1540, adjacent to St. Anne’s Church, which was established 4 years before. The school began as a Catholic school of education and a military orphanage. Later, her gates were opened to the Catholic populace in general which meant the school had to expand. This lead to the construction of the building that now houses the senior school whose foundation stone was laid down by Lord Linlithgow, the former Viceroy of India from 1936 to 1943. It now confers the ICSE (Indian Certificate of Secondary Education) diploma. The school has four Gothic-style buildings and is divided into Senior School (Grades 5 and above) and Junior School (Grades 4 and below). It is rated as one of the top schools of the country. Students are encouraged in the arts and many amongst the school’s alumni have flourished in theatre, music and Bollywood. Jesuit education strives to give learners an ongoing development of their imagination, feelings, conscience and intellect, and to encourage and help them recognize new experiences as opportunities to further growth. Learners see service to others as more self-fulfilling than personal success or prosperity. Jesuit education moves the learning experience beyond rote knowledge to the development of the more complex learning skills of understanding, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.