Presentation of Conference Report

1. FEDERATION OF JESUIT ALUMNI ASSOCIATION OF INDIA
SIXTH NATIONAL CONGRESS
FEBRUARY 4 – 6, 2011
HOSTED BY ST. XAVIER’S ALUMNI ASSOCIATION, PATNA
ST. XAVIER’S HIGH SCHOOL, PATNA
Presentation of Conference Report
The theme for deliberations at the VIth National Congress of JAAI at
Patna was “Public - Private Partnership For Better Education”.
The matter which is of great concern and importance attracted
divergent and conflicting views and opinions in course of discussions
and deliberations.
The delegates having deliberated extensively on the subject „Public-
Private Participation for Better Education‟ have unanimously adopted
on this the 5th day of February 2011 the following resolutions:
1. That the Public-Private Partnership For Better Education is the
immediate need of the hour.
2. That the Public-Private Partnership should be modeled on the
basis of the needs of the respective areas.
3. To impart quality education to ensure appropriate vocational
opportunities.
4. That the Jesuit Alumni/ae should act as catalysts in policy
making, infrastructural development and effective

2. implementation of Public-Private Partnerships with special focus
towards underdeveloped areas.
“All must love the human form, In Heathen, Turk or Jew.
Where mercy, Love and Pity dwell, There god is dwelling too.”
These words of William Blake certainly outlines the moral foundation
of St. Xavier’s High School. Throughout the journey of 7 decades, it has
been serving its students in a special manner and has become a landmark.
Today, we students of such a charitable, educational institution have got this
Golden Opportunity to host the mega program of Jesuit Alumni Association
of India, National Conference, 2011. The Federation of Jesuit Alumni
Association of India (JAAI) is a body of Alumni Association of Jesuit
Academic Institution of India. It hopes to bring together all the Jesuits
Alumni of the country and direct their energies for the betterment of society,
of course with the motto “ To Give and Not to Count the Cost.”
Standing here, I feel extremely privileged to be a part of such a grand
event. It is truly on honour that we are entrusted with the responsibility to
compare such an excellent event. When we were given this responsibility,
we all were struck with a unanimous question – “Can we do it ?” Just then,
there came an inherent support from within when our teachers assured us
with lots of motivation – “Of course we can.” Gradually and eventually, we
got engrossed in the plethora of activities the brimming enthusiasm, with
zeal and zest, even in harsh and chilled winter, remained ignited which will
certainly make this show a grand success.
We students belonging to Jesuit Schools have an innate ability to
excel wherever we go and act as pioneers to all the noblest deeds. With the
moral virtues like discipline, perseverance and focus instilled in us
throughout our school life will never let the reputation of our institution
down. We have acted in compliance with the noble words of St. Ignatius
Loyola who always dreamt of spreading light in the hearts of people through
education. He wanted education to become a torch through which countless
amen and women in every country could awake to become true human
beings. Jesuits-Being the Disciple of St. Ignatius Loyola have truly
propagated His preaching. They have devoted their lives and soul to serve
all. I feel all the audience here are groomed and nurtured under the enriching

3. guidance of Jesuits and I take extreme pride in accepting this universal truth.
We, the present Xavarians and alumni all over the country will forever
behold the moral virtues and dignity of their institutions in all the paths of
life.
As I, Aman Pratik, a board examinee this year, stand to bid adieu to
my School, my heart is gripped with nostalgia and eyes with tears, St.
Xavier’s has done its task of developing us into good human beings. Now,
its our turn to make our school proud of us. We should all take a pledge that
we will keep the fire, which Jesuits have injected in us, burning and
illuminate the whole world with its light. We Xavarians are explicably
privileged to get the guidance of Jesuits and will ever remain adhered to our
motto “For God And Country”.
Finally I conclude with the famous lines of Robert Frost –
“Wood are lovely, dark and deep
And I have promises to keep
And miles to go, before I sleep.
And miles to go before I sleep.”
AMAN PRATIK
St. Xavier’s High School, Patna
Press – Release
The two newspapers headlines said it all: PPP must to attain education goals
and PPP is no panacea. The VIth National Congress of the Jesuit Alumni
Association of India (JAAI) commenced on the evening of 4 th February 2011
to debate Public-Private Partnership for Better Education. At the inaugural
ceremony the Chief Guest Rev. William D’Souza, SJ Archbishop of Patna
expressed the hope that the deliberations would result in positive solutions

4. while being mindful of the core concerns of education. His Grace blessed the
occasion in a speech that indicated purpose and intent. The HRD Minister,
Mr. P.K. Sahi made an impassioned appeal to Jesuits and sought
collaborative partnership with Corporate and Private Entrepreneurs to share
the government’s efforts to meet the huge deficit in education. The President
of JAAI, Dr. Santosh Rolland drew an interesting parallel between the credo
of JAAI namely, Excellence, Innovation and Honor which any PPP initiative
in education should transcribe into its model to blend its excellence and
emancipation. President of the World Union of Jesuit Alumni, Dr. Thomas
Bausch commended the excellent work of the Jesuits with Patna taking a
pride of place. PPP should focus on the concerns of the disadvantaged, he
maintained. Mr. J.K. Sinha, President of the SXAA, Patna and former Joint
Director RAW spoke of corporate social responsibility that ought to urge the
private players to engage with the country’s education program. Fr. Joy
Karayapuram, SJ Provincial and Fr. Ignatius Arun Abraham, SJ, Moderator
of SXAA and Rector St. Xavier’s Patna, expressed the hope that the
deliberations on Public Private Partnership would harmonize excellence and
worth on one hand and ethics on the other. The program was ably anchored
by the Secretary of SXAA, Dr. Amulya Singh. Dr. Sandeep Sen, Vice

5. President of SXAA and Treasurer of JAAI thanked all the guests and
delegates for their purposeful contributions and participation.
Over 400 Jesuit alumni and 40 Jesuit priests from India and countries such
as USA, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Boumundi and France. Mr. Pablo Diaz,
Chili’s Ambassador to Australia was among the many dignitaries to grace
the occasion and participate with avid camaraderie on the deliberations that
took place on the constructive role of the Alumni/ae in the context of PPP.
On day-2 at the plenary session Mr. N.K. Singh, well known bureaucrat and
Rajya Sabha member enumerated the various challenges and worries that the
education faces today as we switch from a static socialistic economy to one
that offers a wider global choices increasing competition and catapulting
economic growth. The challenge of PPP was to reconcile the irreconcilable.
The contradictions that one has to engage with are to harmonize access with
quality, the need to pay for the quality and the commercialization of
education, and called for a flexible approach to tide over the crisis of
resources.

6. Professor Jittu Singh, Professor of XLRI questioned the usefulness of the
RTE if inadequate and non quality education was to be provided. He called
for the Public and Private sectors to merge their resources in order to tackle
the dual problem of creating educational infrastructure and a good teacher.
The resources he said, should be pooled in for purposes with focused
priorities.
Prof. Shankar Dutt, Professor of English at Patna University spoke of the
three phases of education in India, the colonial, the post-independent and the
post WTO when education had become a service to be consumed and
disseminated in the international market place. There is a need to address the
dichotomy of quality and quantity as also regional imbalances, academic
freedom and the disparities between Central and State Universities. He also
raised the people’s concerns with good teaching while discouraging their
own children from becoming teachers.
Mr. J.K. Sinha presided over the session while the Vice Presiden, Mr. Mohit
Ahluwalia conducted the session. Mr. Sanjay Mishra, President of St.
Michael’s Allumni Association, Patna gave the vote of thanks.

7. The panel discussions that followed on the conference theme debated this
contentious issue and adopted the following resolutions:
1. That the Public Private Partnership for Better Education is the
immediate need of the hour.
2. That the Public Private Partnership should be modeled on the needs
of respective areas.
3. To impart quality education and to ensure appropriate vocational
opportunities.
4. That the Jesuit alumni/ae should act as catalyst in policy making,
infrastructural development and effective implementation of PPP
with special focus on under developed areas.
Hon’ble Justice Abhijit Sinha, former President SXAA coordinated the
panel discussions and presented the conference report in the second plenary
session.
Mr. Fabio Tobon, Past President WUJA invited all delegates to the next
World Congress of WUJA to be held at Medline, Columbia in 2013. Later,
Power Point presentations were made by a number of member associations.
The JAAI National Congress combined profit and pleasure. The cultural
program presented by the school children and teachers of St. Xavier’s

8. School, Patna brilliantly showcased the cultural pluralism of India, of its
richness and infinite variety of words rhythms and colours. The audience
was completely mesmerized by the quality of the performance, its meaning
and purpose.
On the concluding day there was a meeting of the accredited delegates and
also the Governing Council meeting of JAAI in which new office bearers
were elected unanimously. Mr Naresh Gupta was elected as President, Mr.
Shapath Shah as Secretary, and Mr Bobby Jacob as Treasurer of JAAI
Governing Council. It was also decided that the next Congress of JAAI will
be held at Ahmedabad, Gujarat in 2014.The outgoing members of the
Governing Council were felicitated with mementos by Fr William Currie,
the delegate of Fr Superior General of the Society of Jesus. Mr.
Vikramaditya Sinha anchored the concluding session.
The concluding address was given by Fr George Nedumattam, SJ –
Principal, St. Xavier’s, Patna and Province Coordinator of Alumni of Patna
Province.
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