Our History
A BRIEF HISTORY OF ST. CHARLES ENGLISH MEDIUM SCHOOL CHILAKALURIPET
When by whom.
The first house and that remains to be the only house of sisters of St. Charles Borromeo in Andhra was started in the year 1967. This stands as the effect of the zealous response made by our late Mother Provincial Christine to extend the missionary service to all parts of India. Her enthusiasm lit up by the all made by the them Guntur Bishop Rt. Rev. Ignatius Mummadi forced her to set out to the new region with her 2 sisters Paula and Assuntha, Who placed their feet in Chilakaluripet town of Guntur District on 28 th June 1967.
Aim and initial services rendered:
The convent had a very humble start with the two sisters boarding ina rented house. In the month of August of the same year they started a nursery for children and a dispensary. These were then the felt needs of the locality as Chilakaluripet was a developing town with both capitalists and working class as its inhabitants. That explains there were the children of the rich needed the school for education and the extremely poor people. Whose needs were immense. To establish an effective missionary centre the sisters planned to have an English Medium school, which would fulfill one of the needs of most of the town’s occupants, besides being a financial source to the other projects such as beginning Telugu Medium school, establishing a dispensary, an orphanage, a tailoring school, crèche etc. that would serve as means to enable the sisters to live the charism of their founder i.e To express concern for the poor by teaching, caring for the sick, relieving all kinds of moral and physical misery and thus make know the love of God our Father to all.
ACTIVITIES CARRIED OVER THE YEAR
The realization of the plans started with building a dispensary in the site donated by Bishop Mummadi This served the double purpose of being the sister’s house as well as dispensary from the year 1968 to 1973. The gradual increase in the strength of the school brought in a dire need for a school building, which was raised in the year 1969. More pupils came in from the surrounding villages villages that made it necessary to have a boarding house that was put up in the year 1978. A crèche had also been started which functioned for sometime and then was closed down. The functioning of all these projects needs more hands that were promptly supplied by the congregation and so the community of sisters gradually enlarged from a number of 2 to 4. A private chapel and house for the sisters were also completed in the year 19793.
THE UNREALISED PALNS:
A Telugu medium school for the children of the locality was in the original plan. It is yet to be realized due to lack of vocations from Andhra , and scarce financial conditions, besides the fact that the need for it being not that intense as there are many Primary Telugu Medium school in the town at present.
APOSTOLIC WORK WHICH THE SISTERS ARE ENGAGED WITH AT PRESENT
An Eng. Med. High school with a boarding house for 200 children.
- An orphanage for 25 Catholic children of the locality.
A dispensary where free Health Service is rendered to the poor.
A tailoring school to increase the number of professional young women.
Aiding the minister of the parish in the maintenance of the Church and
Religious services.
Catechizing the children of the parish, weekly visits to the Catholics in the
sub-station (Kavur) to render Christian education and Medical service.
The sisters of the community thus endeavor to imitate the laborious life of Jesus and in solidarity are trying to be fully pleged missionaries who bring Christ’s message of salvation to a vast number of Hindus, and a handful of Christians amidst whom they live.