St. Mary's English High School, Guwahati
St. Mary's English High School in Guwahati Club is a school in Guwahati.It is one of the prestigious schools in the whole of north east. When St. John Bosco started the Salesian congregation for guiding the youth of the time, St. Mary Mazarello, a collaborator of Don Bosco, co-founded the Society of the Salesian Sisters in 1872 at Mornese(Italy) out of the desire to help the young girls who till then had not received any proper guidance.
To fulfill his mission outside Europe six Salesian sisters, Sr. Innocenza Vallino, Sr. Cecelia Da Roit, Sr. Clotilde Appiano, Sr. Maria Bricarello, Sr Giulia Berra and Sr. Antonietta Rosetti were sent to Assam to take care of the girls and to provide them with and education. The sisters arrived at Pandu, Assam on December 8, 1923. They were welcomed by Mons Mtthias, Fr. Grill and Mrs. Pierriz.
On February 2, 1924 St. Mary's English School was begun with six children in the dilapidated structures. The sisters went from door to door convincing people to send their daughters to school.
On February 17, 1924, they began a festive oratory with sixty five children and opened an orphanage on February 19, 1924. On August 9, 1924 a boarding was opened. On October 4, 1925, an Assamese school was opened with 40 children Sr. Giulia Berra also taught Hindi in school. On December 13, 1926, the Director General of schools de donated Rs 200/- for furniture and 30/- per month for teachers to be employed.
On March 10, 1927, Don Ricaldone, the delegate of Rector Major arrived from Italy at Guwahati and was very pleased with sisters. On January 12, 1931, they took their first public exam. Two sisters Sr Eugenia Cazzuli and Sr. Lugina Saletta joined as nurses.
Now both the English and Assamese sections were combined to function as one group.
On October 12, 1936, the orphanage section was shifted to Tezpur, Assam. In 1957, the Teachers' Training Institute was opened and the first batch of students gave a cent percent result. In 1960 the Assamese school was shifted to Tangla, Assam and the boarding for the English was closed. In 1960, during the tenure of Sr Catherine Susngi(headmistress), Sri D. Gogoi, the inspector of schools requested the Director of Public Instruction, Assam to accord permission to open high school classes i.e. VII and VIII from 1958, and class IX from 1959 and class X from 1960. He also requested DPI to move the university according to approve the opening the classes IX and X. Thus the permission was granted and it was given by G.C. Sharma Baruah, Addl. D.P.I. Assam, memo no. 5 A-61/60/6, dated 2/1/61. From then on the students appeared as regular candidates in the HSLC examination.
In course of time the dilapidated sheds turned into buildings and it grew up to become a high school. A Computer centre, library, a science department along with a three storey building was annexed to it in 1988. Clubs and sports facilities were introduced including basketball and TT courts and facilities for indoor games.
In 2008 renovation of the school took place that was completed in 2010 along with construction of a higher secondary building and an auditorium and the school is now called St. Mary's Higher Secondary School.
The most number of state positions in the High School Leaving Certificate Exam have been recorded in the school.
The following addition is done by VS Dominic. Cell: 09347344089. vsdominicruby@gmail.com. I have first hand information and I am responsible for whatever information I provide here. I am stating the truth, the simple naked truth which may not have been exposed up to now. They teach politeness and values. They give quality education. The holy sisters are very polite and respectful towards the rich and the influential.
Everything is good except just one thing, i.e. they exploit those who depend upon them. This news do not come out because this is happening internally. Ask those girl-teachers who stay there, what sort of food they give them. The holy sisters look upon them with contempt meaning, 'because you are poor, you have come to work here, if you can't bear us then you can quit'. The holy sisters know that the girls are from poor background, but able to provide valuable service. So they keep them as long as they can and suck the last drop of blood.
How do they exploit? The food: The teachers pay for the food. But the food is stale many times. Many times teachers vomit the food and work on empty stomach. If they go for a picnic, some food will be left over, no food will be cooked for teachers until that is consumed. The food may be stale but the teachers must eat it or go hungry. They have kept the teachers hungry for 2 days after a picnic. This is true. It has happened. Call me, (Cell: 09347344089) and I will connect to the person who has experienced it. They boil the vegetables and remove the soup and the rest without chilli and onion, is the curry for the teachers. The rice is the cheapest one available in the market, or ration rice, full of worms and insects, it is actually meant as animal feed. Since young people have store energy in their body they can go on for some time. The holy sisters take advantage of this phenomenon. The parents of the girls do not believe that the situation is like that . They are from aristocratic and traditional Roman Catholic families. So the girls become helpless and suffer. It is true. Ask any teacher who had stayed there, if sh is not in fear complex then she can tell the truth.
The drinking water: Only 2 glasses a day. You can imagine the heat on he top floor of the hostel building in summer. The poor girl teachers sleep there. They are even denied sufficient drinking water. Only one or two glasses a day is available. If they ask for more they will be scolded and chased away by the sister in-charge.
The work: There are 60 to 80 students in a class. The teacher needs to be active. For that they need energy i.e. sufficient balanced diet. "You cut any amount from our salary but give us good (sufficient) food.' The teachers ask. But the holy sisters do not agree. In the 'Good Night Speech' they instill fear in the teachers. "I have come to know that some teachers are grumbling about the food. Grumbling is a sin, so we don't tolerate sinners. So those who are not happy can quit", this is a typical 'GOOD NIGHT SPEECH'. The poor girls will keep quiet and work. Many girls fear to stay in rooms outside, so they stay on and suffer.
VS Dominic (Cell: 9347344089. email: vsdominicruby@gmail.com) Continues: The incidents mentioned by me, above, happened in the 1990s. Those who read this, and become curious, please make an impartial inquiry. Some of those teachers might be still in Guwahati. I am aware of the consequences of posting false comments. I am only telling the truth; so I have no fear even if I am sued for defamation because I am confident that power of truth will prevail against money power. A sister from another congregation stayed there in the 1990s. She had to cook her own food carrying water in a bucket, from the ground floor. The sisters are strict about one thing i.e. all must attend the mass and say the rosary daily. But they miss on the very basic principles of Christian life. I was an ardent Roman Catholic until I had experienced the Salesians. I was in Savio Juniorate Mawlai from 1977 to 80. There I started to doubting if I am in the right faith. Now I believe that the 40 apparitions that Don Bosco had were in accordance to the verse given in 2 Corithians 11:14. I have posted my comments in the Wikipedia of Savio Juniorate Mawlai. The revelations may be shoking but they are true and there is much more to it.