Dilip Thakore interviewed Dr. (Fr.) Hector D'Souza, provincial of the South Asian Assistancy of the Society of Jesus in his office-cum-residence in New Delhi. Excerpts from the two-hour interview.
The Society of Jesus, aka the Jesuits, has completed over 400 years of service to Indian education. Looking back, what is your assessment of the sj contribution to Indian education?
Within the Catholic Church, which provides religious and spiritual guidance to 2,100 million Christians around the world, the Society of Jesus among all the orders and societies of the Vatican-based Roman Catholic Church, has been in the forefront of education for the masses, especially of the poor and socially disadvan-taged. In India too, since St. Francis Xavier established the first ever Jesuit college in Goa in 1548, the society has established a proud record of providing education to Indians of all classes, religions, castes and ethnic groups.
The distinguishing feature of SJ is our bias in favour of providing high quality education to the poor. In 1975, the Society took a formal decision to “opt for the poor and the marginalised” and to reserve 30 to 35 percent of capacity in all our education institutions for the poor and socially disadvantaged, to whom we began providing bilingual education in our schools in many parts of our country. Therefore, you will find that our schools are rarely ranked high in the league tables of the country’s best compiled by EducationWorld and other publications. However, in the league tables compiled by India Today our colleges dominate the top 10 rankings. This is indicative of the ability of Jesuit education institutions to take children of the poor aspirational class and transform them into high quality college graduates.
What is the structure and composition of the Society of Jesus in India? And what is the role of the provincial of the South Asia Assistancy?
The South Asian Jesuit Assistancy is one of the 12 Assistancies in the worldwide Society of Jesus. It comprises 18 provinces in India, one in Nepal and one in Sri Lanka. The South Asian Assistancy formulates the Society’s policies and initiatives in education, social action, health provision and in the training and preparation of Jesuit educators to head and administer our institutions. And while the 18 regions of the country where we are doing God’s work are administered by regional/ state provincials, our activities in neighbouring countries including Bhutan, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan are administered and supervised directly by the South Asian Assistancy or some of the provinces of the Assistancy.
Moreover, within the Assistancy we have 12 secretariats for education, health, social action, communications etc. We also design holistic syllabi and curricula for our education institutions. Over the centuries, we have developed a well-structured Society with a clear mission to administer to the needs of the poor and marginalised.
What are the distinguishing characteristics of SJ institutions of education?
Firstly, it’s our pro-poor bias. This focus on upliftment of the poor is encapsulated in our motto — “service of faith and promotion of justice” and slogans such as “creating men and women for others”; “love and serve in all things” and “for the greater glory of God” which are articles of faith for all Jesuits. A second characteristic is respect for all religions, which is proved by the fact that a large number of people of all religions and faiths study and graduate from our institutions. Thirdly, it is our provision of high quality education, which makes our schools and colleges the first choice of the great majority of people in 70 countries around the world, including India. The high quality of education provided by Jesuit institutions is made possible by our training and motivation of dedicated faculty. As a result of all these factors, when students graduate from our schools and colleges they have fond memories and a sense of ownership of our institutions.
Critics of Christian missionaries in education often allege that Jesuit education institutions impose western values and cultural norms upon Indian students. What’s your comment?
The values that the Society of Jesus preaches and practices — equality, social justice, respect for human beings, all of God’s creations, cleanliness, upliftment of the poor — are universal. Besides, the pursuit of academic excellence as evidenced by India’s ancient universities and wonders of architecture, is very Indian. Moreover, during the past 450 years that the Society has been conducting its mission in India, it has become thoroughly indigenised. Most of this country’s 2,000 Jesuit educationists and nearly 25,000 Catholic priests and 90,000 religious sisters speak four-five native languages, and they have contributed to the development and survival of several native dialects. For instance, many dictionaries and literary works relating to dance and architectural monuments in our country are works of Jesuit educationists. Such criticism is ill-informed and motivated.