Meet the 77-year-old principal who sold her house to keep her school running
Beula Gabriel, 77, started St Joseph’s Secondary School in Hyderabad in 1993, and uses education as a magic wand to transform the lives of underprivileged children.
The future of the world, they say, lies in our classrooms. Education is the movement from darkness to light, but how many people in India have access to quality education? Beula Gabriel is doing every thing she can to make education accessible to all sections of society.
This 77-year-old woman started St Joseph’s Secondary School (SJSS) in Hyderabad’s East Marredpally in 1993 with one aim – to provide education to underprivileged children, many of them first-generation learners in their families. Such was her dedication to her cause that Beula made many sacrifices in the last 20 years, including selling her house to pay for the school building’s rent and infrastructure.
St Joseph’s Secondary School now has 300 students studying from kindergarten to Class 10. In the last 25 years, the school has educated children from all backgrounds. The students are mostly children of maids, rickshaw pullers, labourers, watchmen, and others who find it tough to educate their children. The fee structure is nominal; those who can afford it are welcome to pay, the others can study for free.
Buela and her school have transformed the lives of many children over the past years. Her students are now doctors, engineers, teachers, computer scientists, financial advisors, nurses, and armed force personnel, says The Better India.
How was she inspired to make education her life's mission? During her childhood, Buela saw her mother educate girls from rural areas and enroll them into training for nursing. Her father had helped several people set up their business. It showed her the power of education; how knowledge could transform lives.
She started on her plan in 1985, by setting up a school - St Andrews in Hyderabad. However, disagreements with her family, who wanted to use the school as a money-making business machine, led her to abandon that plan.
In an interview with The News Minute, Beula said,
“My extended family wanted it to be like any other modern school that would extract a huge amount of fees and admits children only from well-to-do families. I opted out of the management because I wanted to start a school where I could bring children from all walks of life – from the richest to the neediest, from highly educated families to first-time school-goers.”
While most schools have an entrance test for admissions, SJSS has a different policy. Beula says,
“No student has ever turned away for failing an entrance test. We conduct tests only to assess the potential of students and place them at appropriate levels. In fact, we prioritise students who have been rejected from other schools, whether for academic, physical. or social reasons.”
As the school completes 25 years, instead of a celebration, Beula has asked her students to collect basic necessities such as grains, pulses and other essentials, and distribute them in their neighborhoods. More than 100 families received goods through the student's efforts on the first day of the month-long celebration.
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