St. Joseph’s Academy, Dehradun

SJA (estb. 1934) is the preferred choice of parents aspiring for high-quality day school K-12 education for their children in India’s schools capital which hosts over 1,000 education institutions

Spread over 18 green acres in the heart of Dehradun (pop.448,000), India’s schools capital hosting over 1,000 education institutions, St. Joseph’s Academy (estb. 1934) is widely acknowledged as one of this education hub’s premier day schools. In a town where boarding schools (eg. Doon, Welham, SelaQui) outnumber day schools, SJA has emerged as the preferred choice of parents aspiring for high-quality day school education for their children in the Doon valley.

Currently celebrating its diamond jubilee year, SJA was founded by the members of the Patrician Brothers’ Institute — headquartered in Chennai with 22 education institutions countrywide — in 1934 with 15 students and seven teachers. Since then this CISCE-affiliated K-12 co-educational school has traveled a long way. Its state-of-the-art campus currently boasts an enrolment of 3,200 students instructed by 120 highly qualified teachers. The largest institution in the Patrician group of schools, SJA alumni are well-represented in the armed forces, industry, merchant marine, medical profession and the IITs (30 SJA students admitted in 2009).

“The people of Doon have very high expectations of SJA, and over the past 75 years we have lived up to their expectations by providing holistic education, strongly rooted in tradition and values. As a missionary school, our objective is to provide well-rounded education comprising academics and sports and extra-curricular activities, and instill values in students that enable them to make independent decisions and become contributing members of society. Moreover in keeping with the changed times we have introduced contemporary pedagogies with the help of audio-visual aids and computer-aided education,” explains Br. A. J. George, a history and public administration alumnus of Madras University who took charge as principal of SJA in June this year. A member of the Patrician Society of the World, Br. George has 23 years of teaching experience, including stints as principal of St. George’s School, Mussoorie (2002-04) and St. James School, Binnaguri, West Bengal (2004-09).

Br. George prides himself on the pains SJA takes to ensure the continued growth and development of the school’s 120 teachers. “We have a stringent recruitment process which ensures careful selection of teachers who receive continuous in-service training. To this end we inaugurated our own teachers training college which apart from offering the B.Ed programme to fresh graduates, also assists in conducting training workshops for the SJA faculty,” he says.

Not surprisingly given its carefully selected and well-trained faculty, SJA students invariably give a good account of themselves in public examinations. In the 2009 CISCE class X pan-India exam, of the 228 students who wrote it, 187 averaged more than 70 percent, while of the 228 students who wrote the class XII exam, 226 were awarded distinction. SJA is also an accredited institution of the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) with exams held in May and November.

However the stellar performance of its students in board exams doesn’t mean that the school ignores extra-curricular and sports education. A plethora of extra-curricular activities and sports facilities are offered on its neatly landscaped campus boasting gardens with 250 varieties of plants. SJA’s sports infrastructure includes three soccer fields, two tennis courts, and three basketball courts. Moreover co-curricular activities and social work are an integral part of the SJA curriculum. Students regularly raise funds, visit and interact with residents of the city’s Teresa Old Age Home, Shishya Charitable Society, Cheshire Homes, the Missionaries of Charity and School for the Blind.

Academic support is provided by a well-stocked library housing a collection of 15,000 books and 70 journal subscriptions and over 100 CDs and other audio-visual materials. The school’s auditorium boasts the finest audio-visual equipment and seats 2,000 people. This academic infrastructure was further enhanced by the inauguration of the Millen-nium Block in 2000 which houses 17 spacious and well-ventilated classrooms, each equipped with a computer and 29" colour television set. “We have incorporated the latest pedagogical and ICT aids — JIL computer-aided classroom learning program and Campus Care technology — to enrich the classroom experience and improve learning outcomes of students. We are also planning to partner with coaching institutes like Akash and T.I.M.E. to provide tuition options for class XII students on the school campus,” says Br. George.

Strongly committed to the school’s philosophy of offering child-centric education rooted in the ideals of charity and philanthropy, Br. George has planned a series of student-led social work initiatives. “Apart from introducing kindergarten classes from the next academic session, we plan to start a literacy mission under which students will teach inhabitants of nearby villages. Moreover with the help of donors and the state government we intend to build a night shelter for the homeless,” says Br. George.

Natasha Pathak (Dehradun)