Principal’s Message
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Principal
CAMPION SCHOOL
MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL
Change is always associated with liveliness. I firmly believe that education should be a process of learning, unlearning, and relearning. A school must offer an environment wherein students will learn by interacting with nature, society, and their own selves. A student should be aware of what he is learning and use it for the good of society. He should have an open mind to relearn the things that will make him more human. The goal of our school is to make our students spiritually men and women of character.
Daniel Burnham, the American architect and urban planner who was instrumental in the development of the skyscraper once said,“Make no little plans, they have no magic to stir your blood to action. Make big plans, aim high in work, and hope.” Thus, it has been with Campion school. The last 80 years have seen many big plans taking shape: Our children have been provided with a number of opportunities. At Campion, teaching is not limited to ‘listening and learning’. With the interactive panels, Smart Boards from prep to secondary section, 4D printer, and robotics we have a multi-pronged approach to teaching. We salute the long line of teachers and masters, clerical staff and peons, whose blood, toil, sweat and tears to borrow from Winston Churchill, run through every corridor and down every wall of this school.
Here, at Campion School, we firmly believe that the services of every single individual associated with this School are important. We are all members of one team. When we work together, we can achieve the goals we set for ourselves. Now, what are these goals? We strive first for academic excellence. We must bring out the best in our students, whatever the academic subjects they are taught or the practical skills they learn. What we impart to them must also be socially relevant. It must enhance their understanding of the world in which they live and help them to cope with the challenges they face. They must become aware of the various problems people around them are facing, especially mass poverty, social injustices, and environmental degradation. Learning experiences in the school must be designed for the all-round development of their personalities. Jesuit education attaches prime importance to character formation, i.e., the imbibing of universal values like honesty, integrity, courage, perseverance, patriotism, and selfless service to the needy. We expect that the students will turn out to be broad-minded persons, who realize that they are so: first and foremost, that they are human beings and citizens of the world. Discrimination on the basis of race, caste, religion, language, culture, nation, or region, must find NO place in their thinking and dealings with people.
The education they receive in this School must make them men and women of conscience (i.e., upright), compassionate for all living creatures (or humaneness), and committed to duty. The school must foster the spirit of cooperation rather than unhealthy competition.
As we mark the 80th year of Campion School, let us pledge to work even harder to further the vision and mission of Campion and build a future where all members of the human family are connected and enjoy access to our services.
Fr.(Dr.) Francis Swamy S.J.
Principal
HALLMARK OF JESUIT EDUCATION
Education is a key factor in determining one’s attitudes and outlook. It is an undisputed fact. Yet it is tragic to observe how highly literate persons are influenced by terrorism and a narrow outlook. Do the academic objectives and the ethos of educational institutions influence student achievement? Does the type of institute one attends influence students’ personal development? Does the type of school one attends affect one’s value system?
Every education system represents certain ideas and ideals, which play a decisive role in shaping the future of a society/country. Similarly, Jesuit education has its own identified objectives and characteristics one of which is to motivate the students to strive after excellence in every field. ‘Excellence’ is an empowering word. People feel strongly and deeply about it. Excellence can be understood differently by different people. One cannot expect every man to be excellent and yet everyone should aim at achieving excellence in one or other aspects of one’s life.
The Jesuit concept of excellence is based on the Ignatian concept of the “MAGIS” – “THE MORE”. It does not imply comparison with others or measurement of progress against an absolute standard rather it is the fullest possible development of each person’s individual capacity at each stage of life joined to his/her willingness to continue this development throughout life and the motivation to use those personally developed gifts for others.
Jesuit schools undertake different projects with the main aim of inculcating in the students love for excellence. But this pursuit of academic excellence is appropriate only within the larger context of human excellence. The Jesuit education is based on the Ignatian worldview. This Ignatian worldview is not to prepare socio-economic elite but orient students to become leaders in service.
‘Human Excellence’ is defined in the context of Jesuit education as, the development of every dimension of an individual by inculcating in him the sense of values and a commitment to the service of others. This should make him realize the priority of the needs of the poor and he should be willing to sacrifice his self-interest for the promotion of justice.
We must excel in our work and at the same time become good human beings. Excellence is never achieved by doing ordinary things but by doing ordinary things in an extraordinary way continuously, with commitment, sincerity, devotion, and dedication. In very simple terms, our most essential goal is to keep ourselves alive and happy. Pleasure, delight and happiness are signs that show that a certain being is successful in achieving that goal. In order to be happy, we need human excellence, which involves the overcoming of selfishness, going out of one-self, increasing the quality of communication and relationships with others. Constructive interpersonal relationship with others is a vital element in achieving human excellence. In such relationship there should be harmony and mutual cooperation.
Educational institutions play a decisive role in shaping the future of society/country. If our only concern is about intellectual development, about cramming brains with facts, we will produce perfect robots, not human persons. We have high educated terrorists, clever thieves, and smart deceivers in the world today. Education which does not develop morals or good values is not truly human. Recent research done on the attitudes and behaviour of young people reveal a noticeable decline in their understanding of the need to respect others, to be responsible, compassionate, kind, honest and self-disciplined etc. The young minds are far too influenced by the highly materialistic event around us. A basic human value which promotes peace and harmony has become a scare commodity. It is vital to have trust in each other. We become afraid of each other. We become selfish and uncaring. We find goodness in every culture. Every religion stands for good values. Lord Jesus in one of his teachings said in the gospel of Mathew (7:12) “Do for others what you want them to do for you.” Children are not born with values. They learn and imbibe values as they grow. The parents are the first teacher who teaches their children good values. They need to read stories about them. They need the examples of adults living them. In schools using reflective pedagogy, that education caters to the head, heart and hand. The new millennium has brought with it not only the basic problems of population, pollution, poverty and scarcity of resources but also problems like terrorism, communal disharmony and the narrow outlook of nationalism. This requires world citizens to grow from just discussions and debates to action-oriented projects. The new millennium calls for a citizen who is sensitive to his fellow human beings and makes conscious efforts towards living a harmonious human life. To shape such a citizen ought to be the endeavour of educational institutions.
In particular, excellence in education is measured not by the quality of the work produced by the ablest students but by the degree to which every student has realised his full potentialities.
Ours is a Jesuit school. Recently our worldwide organisation has spelt our ten characteristics of what makes a Jesuit school a Jesuit. The ten characteristics are as follows:
- Jesuit Schools are committed to being Catholic and to offer in-depth faith formation in dialogue with other religions and worldviews
- Jesuit Schools are committed to creating a Safe and Healthy Environment for all
- Jesuit Schools are committed to Global Citizenship
- Jesuit Schools are committed to Care of all Creation
- Jesuit Schools are committed to Justice
- Jesuit Schools are committed to being Accessible for All
- Jesuit Schools are committed to Interculturality
- Jesuit Schools are committed to being a Global Network at the service of the Mission
- Jesuit Schools are committed to human excellence
- Jesuit Schools are committed to life-long learning
Today, while we do our best to make our pupils professionally competent and well-versed in the latest technologies, we cannot forget that these efforts are to be subordinated to and oriented, always, towards the higher values of Service of God and Service of humanity, with true humility, deep commitment, and compassion for all God’s creatures on Planet Earth and in the Universe – the real hallmarks of Jesuit Education.