Educational Apostolate

Bethany Educational Society ® Mangalore

The Logo of BES

The Bethany Educational Society® Mangalore was registered on 4th September 1948 with the title, The Bethany Educational Society ®, Mangalore, under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.

The Bethany Educational Society ® (BES) Mangalore is located at Bendur, Kankanady Post, Mangalore 575002 DK, Karnataka India. It imparts value-based education through Balwadi Centres, Pre-Primary, Primary and High Schools, Pre-University Colleges, Degree College, Teachers’ Training D El Ed College and Vocational Training Centres.

The Four Founding Members with Founder

The Servant of God, Raymond Francis Camillus Mascarenhas, the Founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Little Flower of Bethany and the Bethany Educational Society, reflected on the situation of his times. It was one of poverty, illiteracy, ignorance, gender disparity and lack of opportunities for the rural poor to grow and develop to the fullness of a human person. Captivated by the call of Jesus Christ, the divine Guru, to preach the good news to the poor and to bring liberation to all, profound values of equality, sharing, justice and peace, proposed in the Sermon on the Mount, the Servant of God felt the urge to develop an egalitarian society and intervened to bring about a required change by initiating a meaningful action. He envisaged a new society built on love, justice, freedom and equality which would enable people to share fullness of life with all, especially the poor and the marginalized. SD Raymond understood that education can be a powerful tool to bringing about transformation in the lives of rural masses, girl children and women, deprived of equal opportunities for growth and development.

The four noble and generous lady teachers, Marceline Menezes (Sr Martha BS), Flora Mathias (Sr Clare BS), Alice Mathias (Sr Lourdes BS) and Regina Gertrude Gonsalves (Sr Gertrude BS), who wanted to dedicate their lives to God and humanity shared the vision for a new society with Mgr. Raymond, became the Founding Members of the Congregation and the Bethany Educational Society. They understood that women have a unique and crucial role to play in empowering girl children and women for the holistic development of the society.

The educational scenario of 19th, and early 20th century reveals why Mgr. Raymond, gave importance to the mission of education. In 1927 when the universal and compulsory primary education was introduced in every province of India, Fr Raymond responded to this need by opening communities of Bethany sisters in remote villages to teach in schools which already existed, as well as to open new schools for the girls. As early as 1937 RFC Mascarenhas extended Bethany educational undertakings to the Malabar mission in Calicut; to Poona diocese in 1939; the interiors of Belgaum, then in Goa diocese in 1945 and to the districts of Shimoga in Mysore diocese, in 1950. Consequently, the girls received umpteen opportunities for education. Since pre- independence period onwards Bethany's contribution to the field of literacy has been an outstanding one.

The Bethany Educational Society (BES) was registered on 4 September 1948 with Mother Petra as the first President under the patronage of its Founder Servant of God Raymond Francis Camillus Mascarenhas.

The First Council of Management of BES

The BES Council of Management 2022-2023

Structure of BES

BES Conventions:

I CONVENTION
The Bethany Educational Society had its I Convention in the year 1988. Furthering the vision of the Servant of God, Mgr Raymond and the Founding members, the XII General chapter in the year 1992 stated thus ‘ our goal in education is an all-round development of the human person with respect to one’s ultimate goal and to establish non-violent and non-exploiting social, cultural and economic order based on a vision of life that is consistent with the Gospel and dignity of human person’.

II CONVENTION- THEME: EDUCATION FOR FULLNESS OF LIFE
The II Convention of BES took place from 2 – 11 October 2001 on the theme ‘Education for fullness of life. 157 sisters participated in this convention. It spelt out clearly the vision, goal and core values for BES

BES Vision: To Promote the Glory of God by the Holiness of its members and the Service of the Kingdom of God

BES Goal: Transformative Education for Fullness of life for all specially the marginalized, the poor and the girls

BES Core Values:
1. God Experience
2. Compassionate love for all, especially the Marginalized
3. Communion, Collaboration, Team Spirit
4. Excellence in Developing each one’s unique Potentialities
5. Truth, Love, Justice and Peace
6. Simplicity of Life Style and Dignity of Labour
7. Respect for Life, Nature, Cultures, Religions and Love for the Nation

In addition to the Vision, Goal and Core values, the outcome of the convention was The Bethany Educational Policy (2001) and The Bethany Educational Pedagogy (2004).

III CONVENTION

THEME: TRANSFORMATIVE EDUCATION FOR FULLNESS OF LIFE
The III Convention of BES was held from 4-9, November 2008 at Bethany Mangalore. Around 294 staff members and 154 students of BES participated in it. After the reflective process, the following priorities were evolved.

• Education for peace and harmony
• Empowerment of Girl Child
• Education for harmonious relationships
• Education excellence for all

Sr M Sandhya BS
General Coordinator, Educational Apostolate
Bethany Generalate
Lower Bendur, P.B.No.593
Mangalore 575002, D.K. India
Contact No – 0824/2218923
Email Id – This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.