ARCHBISHOP’S HOUSE 
21, N. PAREKH MARG
MUMBAI- 400 001

Ivan Cardinal Dias

Dear A.B.E. friend:

I bid you a warm welcome to this Archdiocesan Board of Education (A.B.E.) website on behalf of the faithful, the clergy and the religious of the Archdiocese of Bombay.

Ever since the Church was founded over two thousand years ago, she has been engaged in the sphere of education and has opened institutions for learning all over the world. According to recent world statistics prepared by the International Office for Catholic Education, the Catholic Church conducts over 250,000 schools catering to 42 million students. Her educational thrust has always gone hand-in-hand with her deep involvement in the fields of health-care and social works under the inspiration of her Founder Jesus Christ, the Good Samaritan and the Good Shepherd.

Christians in India - being a minority community - enjoy the guarantees enshrined in the Indian Constitution giving them the right “to establish and administer educational Institutions of their choice”. The Catholic Church exercises this right by providing education at various levels to everyone - primarily to those of her own community, but welcoming also those of other faiths - who seek a sound intellectual, moral and spiritual formation according to the values enshrined in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

In Mumbai, the Catholic Church has been engaged in the field of education since over 450 years. Today she has a wide gamut of educational institutions, ranging from the pre-primary, primary, middle and secondary schools, to degree junior, senior and teacher training colleges, open school centres and schools for non-formal education, technical institutions, special schools, management institutes, etc. She has never hesitated to place her best resources and most qualified persons at the service of education. Countless parents, both Catholic and of other faiths, have entrusted their children to the care of these institutions. Millions of young people have attended them, and thousands of teachers, non- teaching staff, Religious and managerial personnel have worked painstakingly and selflessly to ensure that the students are prepared to take their place in society and to give their contribution towards the progress of the social and political life of the Nation as God-fearing, honest and responsible citizens.

The A.B.E. at present supervises 377 pre-primary, primary and secondary schools and 12 junior colleges. These institutions cater to some 300.000 students, of whom 69.000 are Catholics. Recent statistics (2004) show that in A.B.E. schools last year, 13.606 needy children were given full or partial scholarships, midday meals, books and other expenses amounting to about two million rupees.

Catholic education is indeed a challenging mission, its hallmark being an emphasis on cultivating strong spiritual, emotional and human values, effective discipline, strong motivation to reach out to the poor and marginalized, and a permanent striving for academic excellence. It aims at giving the students a wise and effective pedagogical training which, in the light of the Gospel, serves the overall building up of the human person on four essential pillars: learning to know, to do, to live together and to be. It is this ethos that gives Catholic educational institutions a special identity and witness value.
 

+ Ivan Cardinal Dias
Archbishop of Bombay