Nepal’s Catholic schools teaching Pope’s values of peace for past 60 years

(Jan. 11, 2012) “Catholic schools are considered the best schools in Nepal because for decades they have been teaching the values of peace and justice, which Pope Benedict XVI stressed in his message for World Peace Day,” Fr Lawrence Maniyar told AsiaNews.
According to the Jesuit regional superior, who has been involved in education for 35 years, Hindu extremism and intolerance towards religious and social minorities are widespread in schools not based on such values. Fr. Lawrence said “Since our first mission, we have urged families to register their children only if they shared our values, which are the basis of everyman’s life.” For Nepal’s education expert Tirtha Khania, the presence of Catholic schools open to everyone has helped the country change. Khania noted that criminal and violent groups like the Nepal Defence Army (NDA) are the product of bad teaching, Nepal’s Catholic community is instead the product of Jesuit educational activity.
After educating Nepal’s King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya in their schools in Darjeeling and Kurseong in India, the Jesuits were invited to Nepal in 1950 to open a school in a neighbourhood of Kathmandu, by General Mrigendra Shamsher Rana, who was then in charge of education. Presently , Jesuits run four high schools and a college. They also run 33 primary and secondary schools. Most Nepali political leaders were educated in them. After Nepal’s Hindu monarchy was abolished in 2006, the Nepali state has been secular. Although proselytising is banned, Christians can publicly celebrate Mass and other religious functions. This has enabled the local Catholic community to grow and it now has 10,000 members, 4,000 more than five years ago. Nepal’s Christian population represents 3 per cent in a population of 29 million.