It gives me immense joy to witness to a historic moment in the annals of history of the Rajagiri Higher Secondary School owned and managed by the Sacred Heart Province of the CMI congregation. It completes 60 years of a great mission of transforming the society through quality education. It’s a time of retrospection, introspection and futuro-spection for RHSS. It’s a time of celebration and jubilation for the RHSS. I salute all the visionaries who dreamt, dared and realized this great abode of learning six decades ago and gave the visionary impetus for its further growth. I acknowledge with gratitude all those who have nurtured and molded RHSS as it is today by making a lot of sacrifices in their personal life. Rajagiri Higher Secondary School is the first institution to be named with the much celebrated brand name in the field of education. The name Rajagiri was originally given to the tiny hill at Kalamassery where the headquarters of the CMI SH Province was established in 1959. In the next year, the school was established with the same name. The name RAJAGIRI literally means “The hill of the King” and derivatively it refers to the hillock where Jesus Christ is accepted as the King or the model, as the human embodiment of the virtues of love, truth and justice.
FROM MANNANAM MOVEMENT TO THE RAJAGIRI MOVEMENT AND BEYOND
Rajagiri School is an attempt to imbibe and impart in a humble way these great ideals, drawing inspiration from the founding father St. Kuriakose Elias Chavara, a great visionary, reformer and religious leader of the 19th century Kerala Society. Understanding the reality that only through imparting education, the transformation and development of the society made possible, St Kuriakose Elias made a revolutionary step by establishing a Sanskrit School at Mannanam in 1846 which can be considered as the Mannanam Movement in Education in the Kerala Society. The later decades witnessed to the rise of many a educational endeavors in the Mannanam Model in Kerala focusing on the integral liberation of the human person. In the 1960s, a conducive atmosphere for a paradigm shift emerged in the field of education and Rajagiri under the leadership of Fr Francis Sales, CMI, made the pioneering strides in the field of quality education by starting one of the first English medium schools in Kerala. This can be rightly called the Rajagiri Movement in the educational scenario of Kerala. In the last six decades, Rajagiri has been a name for the holistic, integral, inclusive and integral quality education in Kerala.
Education basically aims at transformation- of both the individual and the society. It’s a process of making a difference from natural to cultural. It should create more human and humane people in the society. The real education should help the students to become responsible citizens marked with great human values and ideals. The CMI educational vision by which the RHSS is led aims at aim at forming leaders who are intellectually competent, spiritually mature, morally upright, psychologically integrated, physically healthy and socially acceptable, who will champion the cause of justice, love, truth, and peace, and who are ever open to further growth. In the past 60 years, we have been contributing towards the realization of this vision. Rajagiri Movement in education should continue its role as a catalyst of innovation and adaptation in this changed and changing age marked by the new normal in all spheres of life.
I take this opportunity to remember all our visionary fathers, members of the staff, teaching staff, supporting staff of the past, who have contributed selflessly to realize the Rajagiri dream. My special congratulations to the Present RHSS team under the leadership of Rev Fr Tomy Kochilanjickal for taking this great dream forward.
Fr Benny Nalkara,CMI
Provincial & Manager
