Fr Agnel Multipurpose School, Mumbai

Perhaps the most distinguishing characteristic of Fr Agnel Multipurpose School, Mumbai which sets it as a school apart, is its conviction that supplementary technical and life skills education is a vital ingredient of secondary schooling Now on the threshold of celebrating its silver jubilee, the K-XII Fr Agnel Multipurpose School, (FAMS, estb. 1982) sited in Mumbai’s far-flung suburb of Vashi (Navi Mumbai), has acquired an excellent reputation for providing supplementary, vocational/technical education to its 4,816 students instructed by 100 teachers. The Agnel Ashram Fathers Group which originated in Goa and has branches in Delhi, Noida, Ambarnath and Pune as well another branch in Mumbai, has an inspiring history. Its founder Fr. C. Rodrigues, a prominent freedom fighter in the Goa Liberation Movement fled persecution from the Portuguese regime in Goa and took refuge in Mumbai where he set up a small school for street children in 1952. Thus was born the Father Agnel chain of schools. Today the co-educational Fr Agnel Multipurpose School, Vashi, affiliated with the Maharashtra state secondary and higher secondary school certificate (SSC) examinations board, is widely acknowledged as one of the benchmark schools of the board which has 1,200 schools across Maharashtra (pop. 96 million) with an aggregate enrollment of over 1.5 million students, affiliated with it. Fr Agnel Multipurpose School, Mumbai offers K-XII education in English and Marathi mediums with students studying in English (4,100) by far outnumbering Marathi medium students, at rock-bottom tuition fees (see box). Moreover in a society where lip service is paid to inclusive education for physically and mentally challenged children, Fr Agnel Multipurpose School, Mumbai actively practices inclusive education giving children with disabilities every opportunity for mainstreaming. To this end Fr Agnel Multipurpose School, Mumbai has tied up with the National Open School (NOS) besides the Maharashtra state education department, to allow children unable to cope with the class X SSC examination to write NOS’ school-leaving exam. “We welcome children with disabilities,” says Fr. S. Almeida, a history and education alumnus of Goa University who served in Agnel Ashram Fathers institutions for over 25 years before taking charge as principal of FAMS in 1999. “To the maximum extent possible we ensure that children with disabilities learn with regular students. Our practice is to bring three-four special educators into classrooms to help and aid special needs children as they learn side-by-side with all children. We believe in admitting every child regardless of economic status or disabilities whom the Lord brings to us and give them our best.” Unsurprisingly, FAMS also runs an attached orphanage for 100 boys who receive free education in the school. Inevitably admission applications are disproportionate to capacity available. Last year the FAMS management received 900 admission applications, from which only 350 children were accepted into nursery school with the management practicing positive discrimination in favour of children from poor and underprivileged households. Yet despite the heavy pressure of admission applications, immediately after taking charge as principal, Almeida abolished the system of admission interviews for nursery and kindergarten children. Perhaps the…