NATIONAL10 (Spotlight Weelky)]

Preacher Of Education

A pioneer of education takes pride in the work his students have been doing for the nation

By AKSHAY SHARMA

Having taught 3,000 students during his 40 years with Saint Xavierís School, Father James J. Donnelly S.J. has retired from his full-time teaching job because of poor health. As he looks back, Fr. Donnelly takes immense satisfaction at the work his boys have been doing for their nation.

Fr. Donnelly says September 4 was one of the most memorable days of his life. He was granted an audience by King Gyanendra, who spent 11 years at St. Josephís North Point Jesuit School in Darjeeling, India. During the audience with the new monarch, Fr. Donnelly took the opportunity to reminisce about mutual acquaintances at the school and to reflect on Nepalís future.

"I told His Majesty that teaching at the two St Xavierís schools was my chief mission," Fr. Donnelly told SPOTLIGHT last week. "The 3,000 students that Iíve taught are active participants in nation building. I believe our country is in capable hands and His Majesty needs grace from the Almighty to help care for his 23 million subjects."

Fr. Donnelly adds: "We talked about the fathers, mostly Canadians, Belgians too, who had taught the king at St Josephís, literally dozens of those who passed through the 11 years of his education there." The late King Birendra, King Gyanendra and his younger brother, the late former prince Dhirendra all studied at St Josephís. King Birendra went to pursue further studies at Eton College, England.

"I told King Gyanendra that I had done the same job at Godavari which the Jesuits at St. Josephís did. We talked about the Belgian father ó whose name we both had forgotten ó who ordered movies for students. I told him that from the day I came into Nepal, I have been pouring my energies on the students."

Born in Cincinnati, in the US state of Ohio, Donnelly was educated in the mid-western American city. He joined the Jesuits in 1947 and was ordained a priest in 1959. For 40 years, he has been a teacher and administrator at St. Xavierís school in Nepal.

"When I was 8 or 9, I read a magazine from Patna. As a little boy, I saw priests in White Cassocks helping people. I wanted to be a Jesuit priest and go to India, a thought I pursued in school. My superiors told me to go into theology and get ordained to priesthood. In 1961, I came to Godavari School to join Father Nisen and Father Watrin (they were the rector principal and the vice-principal respectively). I was one of the 14 Jesuits that were in Godavari. We were only a handful of teachers for 130 students."

"It operated on the Senior Cambridge system and we believed the students were going to be very successful and would get into any field they would like. The system was inspiring for the teachers and the students. The exams were inspiring because the students were given a fair evaluation and good marks," Fr. Donnelly speaks of his early days in Nepal.

"We cut across everything from a distance then. Our students went into diverse professions. They became doctors and engineers. The army was an attractive career. The previous commander-in-chief, Dharmapal Singh Thapa, was among the 70 students we had in 1951." The incumbent, Gen. Prajwalla Sumshere JB Rana, is also a Xaverian.

"The class of 1962 consisted of Pyar Jung Thapa. I coached him in basketball and soccer. I hear heís slated to be the next commander in chief. The next in line is a boy I had taught in Grade 7 in 1961, Sadeep Shah. We are proud of what our boys have turned out to be."

"I taught Susheel Silpakar for four years before he went on to become a doctor. I have to visit him these days for my ear. I am under the care of two other very good doctors. Dr. Ranjeet Singh Baral, who was in the batch of 1965, takes care of my heart. Dr. Ashok Baskota, who was in the batch of 1964, operated on my hip. Raju Pradhan, of the 1971 batch, is among the best radiologists. There are countless medical professionals like them who attended St. Xavierís."

Fr. Donnelly says there is a reason why his students have been able to serve their country so well. "We have managed to motivate students because we were able to run a top-quality school. I admire Fr. Moran for the style of teaching he introduced in Nepal. I loved what I was doing and I look upon myself as an educator rather than an administrator. I always wanted to do that ó teach ó and I had fun."

When he came to Nepal, Fr. Donnelly says, the education system was patterned on the one set up by the British Empire to create secretaries, clerks and other people. "You had to be good in English but you also had to be good in math, history, science and languages as well. So there was a good spectrum

of subjects. In St Xavierís, we had the Senior Cambridge and General Certificate exams from England. On the other hand, we had to adapt to a system that had existed in the Asian continent. You had to be very well

motivated to pass the three-hour O Level exams."

He says schools around the world then were much the same, whether they were in Tanzania, Uganda or Burma. "In all parts of the former British Empire, students were studying the same things our boys were doing here. I found it rather inspiring and meaningful to be able to walk into a classroom and expect high-quality education. I taught English language, English literature and moral science. I was relatively sure that when I left the class, the students would not be cheating. The boys knew that at the end of the line,

they had to talk, think, and write honestly because the system was so well worked out that the questions were never ever repeated. The students knew that they could not just mug up answers and expect to get through. The system that existed until 1976 was meaningful and inspiring."

But the scenario changed when the government implemented the New Education System Plan (NESP). "We were told to get into the model and we gradually did. At the end 1976, we had two senior classes, the Senior Cambridge andthe first SLC Class 10. The Senior Cambridge became a coaching alternate but

regular classes have been suspended since then. Then-Crown Prince Birendra and his planners wanted to introduce a better-motivated education system."

The government brought all educational institutions ó public and private ó under the NESP program. "Now that was idealistic. They had a lot of bright people and well-educated planners. There was nothing wrong with the planning, but the education system, including the teachers and the whole administration, fell into pieces. The system didn't click because it was implemented too fast. It was implemented without everybody aboard."

He says the new system overleapt itself. "I wasnít privy to all that was going on at the Ministry of Education, but they did not leave room for any school to escape the program. In the late 70ís and the 80ís, however, some people saw that the Ministry of Education did not have the proper mechanism

to implement the planning.

"As a result, many people started private schools, gradually bringing in their own textbooks and ideals. And they started charging big money because the government system was not working well. People expected better education but the NESP was a big disappointment. We thought the government was going

to do it all but they did not have all of the wares needed to implement the NESP.

"Ten years later, the scenario has changed. The private schools had to set up their own standards and the people became satisfied with the English-medium schools. That is where we are today ó private education has dominated public education. And I see nothing wrong with that. I support that, if you are charging good money for good education," he says.

"There are hundreds of private schools around the country providing good education and charging a high amount of money. A private school would mean that the headmaster would be in charge and he would certainly provide good education. If he were a government servant only, his ideals would not have been so strong. And that is the stimulus ó the headmaster doesnít want to fall flat on his face.

"Unlike the NESP episode, they know that they are going to be rewarded for their service. That was lacking in the NESP program because nobody felt that he was going to be rewarded for is efforts. I think the key lies on demonstrating on how to get a person on the line in education to give the motivating and to expect good results from his students ," Fr. Donnelly says.

"Boarding schools at least have created a faÁade, if not a reality, for a better quality education. Quality education means that you have to pay for that ó and what is wrong with that? These people have to earn a living; they should be given a family wage for their work. If people are providing private education in a productive and demanding way, they are doing a big service to the nation as a whole. They are producing good citizens for our land and I would like to see more of that. May their tribe increase."