Did you know that there are...

• 119 Loreto schools in 12 countries on 6 continents
• 70,000 Loreto students worldwide
• 3,500 teachers in Loreto schools
• 1,400 support staff employed in Loreto schools

International Conferences

The theme "Educating for Identity, Integrity and interconnectedness" set the scene for the first international IBVM Education Meeting in Kolkata, India, 4-18 November, 2002. Kolkata has been described as a city that will always continue to "mesmerise, bewitch and puzzle the visitor with its large hearted, half-intoxicated life lived in a daze."

In this second most populated city in India, with more than fourteen million people, one senses that culture is the food that drives their spirit. For the twenty-eight delegates arriving for this international Conference, the experience of that culture was both immediate and memorable. Each one of us will have special memories of our journey from the Airport to Loreto House. We were, indeed, "mesmerised" by the sights, sounds and smells encountered on that initial journey.

The welcome which awaited us in Loreto House was indicative of the extraordinary level of hospitality to be experienced throughout our Conference and visits to various schools and Centres associated with Loreto in India.

Education for Identity, Integrity and Interconnectedness
Loreto Day School, Sealdah

Running from the southern end of Calcutta's green space, the Maidan, to the Hooghly River, north of Howrah Bridge, runs an arterial route that hums and throbs with rickshaws, yellow taxis, buses, lorries and scooters. This is AJC Bose Road. Centrally situated on that road is an unremarkable building, with a grey stippled façade and covered with the stains of Calcutta's pollution. The building is a classic set of bolt-on buildings, some wings running to five storeys, while others are a mere two or three storeys tall.

Inside there is a modest quadrangle with netball hoops at either end and a covered area with pillars holding up an additional four storeys. From seven in the morning till late in the evening, the visitor will encounter children, parents, teachers, rural villagers and hawkers selling Kwality ice cream and other edibles in the quad. (The hawkers and those selling edibles are generally parents of children at the school, who are using the income from their trade to support their children through school.) The more observant will spot a washing line, a stray dog, two white rabbits and a couple of cockatoos as well. All day long, the smell of dhal, potatoes, onions, rice and mild spices permeates the air, as big cooking pots are stirred and emptied. This is Loreto Day School, Sealdah.

The story of Loreto Sealdah began in 1857, some one hundred and forty five years ago, when it became one of the first missionary plants of the Loreto Movement in India. The school was part of a tradition set up by its Anglo-Irish Catholic founders, which sought initially to educate the daughters of the Irish and English soldiers and colonists in India, but gradually widened its embrace to include Anglo-Indian pupils of railway families, and then spread its mission to the poor in rural and urban districts of Bengal, the United Provinces, South India and hill stations in Darjeeling, Assam and Simla.

Loreto Initiatives

These are projects in which Loreto students are involved in to help the less fortunate in their towns and villages in India. Some of these were experienced first hand by our staff.

Rainbow Children 
The street children are called Rainbows because they come and go as they please. You never know when to expect a rainbow but it gives joy when it appears. For further information click here.

Sevikas 
Many of the older girls who live on the streets prefer to learn life skills, such as tailoring, household arts, rather than the usual school lessons. For further information click here.

Barefoot Teacher Training Programme (BTTP)
This initiative has been running since 1988 and has touched the lives of some 4000 untrained teachers across India, from Mizoram in the North East to Bihar, Uttat Pradesh and as far west as Rajasthan. For further information click here.

Entally
Houses a mixture of students with a mixture of backgrounds and life styles. Some of the students are boarders, others are orphans and some come from dysfunctional families.
For further information click here.

Here you will find links to some of the world-wide family of Mary Ward schools and colleges founded by the IBVM or Loreto Sisters.