KARACHI:Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that the Catholic education philosophy reveals a concern for an education that combines sound knowledge and skills with overall personal development and such an education involves a high level of interpersonal relationships between teacher and student. This is something to be proud of that [[today] we are commemorating 160 years of educational growth and services of St. Joseph’s Convent school at the main campus.

This he said on Thursday while speaking at the 160th closing ceremony of St. Joseph’s Convent School which was commemorating the Sesquicentennial year (1862 - 2022-23). The CM was accompanied by Minister Education Syed Sardar Shah. Principal of the school Sr. Elizabeth Niamat fc, Provincial Superior Sr. Angelina Francis, Rev. Sisters, Rev. Fathers, nuns from the Institute of the Daughters of the Cross - Liege, and School Staff received him at his arrival.

Mr. Shah said that it was a great pleasure to attend a programme to mark the 160th Sesquicentenary Years. He added that a golden milestone has been achieved in the history of not only St. Joseph’s Convent School but in the history of Pakistan. “We are duly indebted to the Christian Community of Pakistan for providing quality service in the field of education,” he said. A great thing about St. Joseph’s is that it has evolved with the passage of time and has incorporated a syllabus that befits National Curriculum, the CM said and added that he has learned that St. Joseph’s Convent School was against bullying and corporal punishment. “The school believes in nurturing young minds through counseling and kindness that’s why excellent results are produced from here and we get to see students securing positions each year,” he said.

The CM was surprised to learn that they welcome the Convent School’s alumnae back and most teachers have sustained themselves for more than three to four decades which made their students privileged enough to acquire mentors of prestige. Murad Shah said that his elder sister had received an education from St. Joseph’s while he was enrolled in St Patrick’s in those days. He shared his memories of his and his sister’s schooling and his father, Syed Abdullah Shah, used to give them pick and drop personally.

Minister Education Sardar Shah speaking on the occasion said that chief minister Murad Ali Shah has the Honour of receiving education in Catholic schools. “I received early education at a school set up under a neem tree where my teacher Mohammad Malook Kumbhar took the classes under the open skies,” he recalled. Sardar Shah said that Catholic schools focused on the holistic education of the whole child - socially, emotionally, spiritually, physically, and culturally. “All important is preparation for life, and a life of worth at that - not merely a life of work,” he said.

The principal of the school Sr. Elizabeth Niamat said that St. Joseph’s Convent School was founded in 1862 by the Daughters of the Cross of Liege, Belgum. She added that the educational pursuit has evolved unabated. She also shared the growth of the school. Earlier, the students presented tableaus and a Sindhi cultural show in which they paid rich tribute to sufi saints of Sindh, former prime minister Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, leading sufi singer Abida Parveen and women peasants working in the fields along with their male members.

At the conclusion of the ceremony, the chief minister gave away shields to the present and retired principals of different branches of the school spread all over Pakistan.