DHAKA (UCAN):More than four centuries after the Jesuits became the first Catholic missionaries to land in Bangladesh [then known as East Bengal and part of India], the order kicked off its education ministry in the country.
St. Xavier’s International School, an English-medium institute, held its first classes on August 16.
Located near St. Augustine of Hippo Catholic Church in Mathbari, Gazipur district, near Dhaka, it currently has 34 students who can study up to A Levels. It has a capacity of about 600 students in its five-storey building.
The school was inaugurated in presence of a host of dignitaries including Oblate Archbishop Bejoy N. D’Cruze of Dhaka, on August 13 with the slogan, “A Fire that Kindles Other Fires.”
“Jesuit missionaries first came to present-day Bangladesh to preach the gospel and they built the first church building in 1600 at Ishwaripur in Satkhira district. Jesuit missionaries came at different times, but they could not settle due to political, geographical, and other reasons,” Jesuit Father Ripon Rozario, superior of Jesuit Bangladesh Mission, explained.
The priest said that Jesuit missionaries arrived again in 1994 at the invitation of Bangladeshi bishops and decided to settle permanently, and are part of the Kolkata Province of India.
Most English medium schools are located in cities like Dhaka. Many parents move to the city to allow their children to have an English-medium education. Another reason was we had our property to start a school here
Father Rozario
Father Rozario said that over the years, Jesuits found a strong footing in the country thanks to an increase in local priestly vocations.
“Now the number of our local Jesuits has increased, we are quite strong, and our community feels that we need to work for our own country. That’s why we have started this school to expand our ministry,” Father Rozario explained.
Bangladesh has produced 23 local Jesuits who are active in various ministries including spiritual, cultural, youth activities, refugee services, and parish work.
Father Rozario said that St. Xavier’s School was set up outside the national capital to provide quality education to students in rural areas.
The school prioritises moral values and international-level English-medium education at a relatively low cost.
“Most English medium schools are located in cities like Dhaka. Many parents move to the city to allow their children to have an English-medium education. Another reason was we had our property to start a school here,” Father Rozario said, adding that the Jesuits would expand their education ministry in other parts of the country.
Jesuit Father Francesco Fernandez from Portugal, was the first Catholic missionary to set foot in Chittagong of Bengal province in 1598.
Now the number of our local Jesuits has increased, we are quite strong, and our community feels that we need to work for our own country. That’s why we have started this school to expand our ministry
Father Rozario
Two Jesuits—Father Melchior de Fonseca and Father Andre Boves—and two Dominican priests followed in his footsteps in 1599, and a band of Augustinian missionary priests turned up in the 1600s.
Jesuits and the Augustinians spearheaded the evangelisation of thousands of lower-caste Hindus and were credited for laying the foundation of the first churches in Bengal.
Father Fernandez became the first martyr of Bengal in 1602 following his arrest, incarceration, and death at the hands of Arakanese soldiers amid a tug-of-war between the kings of Bengal and Arakan, which is part of the present Rakhine state of Myanmar.
Father Boves was also detained and tortured by the soldiers.
Today, Catholic Church has an estimated 400,000 members spread in eight Catholic dioceses. Among the Church’s main ministries are education, healthcare, and social development.
The Catholic Church runs one university, 10 colleges, and more than 500 primary and high schools, offering education to about 100,000 pupils a year, most of them Muslims.
Rinku Gomes, a 38-year-old local and development worker, observed that had the school started earlier, his wife and five-year-old son could have avoided going to Dhaka for English-medium education.
“If this school was here earlier, I could have left my children and wife in the village. I could have avoided spending so much in Dhaka,” Gomes, who is now based in southeastern Cox’s Bazar district, said.
He noted that English-medium schools in Dhaka are expensive, and many parents cannot afford them even if they want their children to study in those schools.
Gomes said the monthly fee in the Jesuit school is only 1000-1500 taka [$82.5-$123.8], but schools in Dhaka charge five times more.
“I hope the Jesuits will contribute more to the Bangladesh Church and the country,” Jyoti Gomes, secretary of the Bangladesh Catholic Education Board Trust, said welcoming the first Jesuit school in the country.
