Jesus said, “Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost…” (Matt 28:19)
Convent education. Coveted education. Right? In India, missionary schools serve as symbol of pride and honour, and with good reason; this kind of education does not come cheap and is a status symbol. Ever picked up matrimonial ads and seen a call for ‘convent-educated girl’? So why are these kind of schools so highly valued? It’s important to look at its history before trying to decipher the whys.
Christians have been in India ever since the 4th century, but it was only in the 18th century that a new wave of missionary activities began with the advent of British colonial powers. In 1795, William Carey arrived at Calcutta, becoming the first missionary to make a lasting contribution to the education of the people of India, especially Bengal.
Later in the same year, he started a school for local boys teaching them reading, writing, arithmetic, the local accounting system, and more. The beginning of women’s convent schools in the modern institutionalized way is credited to Hannah Marshman, the first woman missionary in Bengal and India. She founded the first girls school in Serampore and another in Calcutta. Thus began the long history of convent education in Bengal.
The cause of women’s education in Bengal was championed by four main missionary societies, namely the Church Missionary Society of Scotland, the Christian Knowledge Society of England, the London Missionary Society of England, and the Baptist Missionary Society of Danish. However, several smaller missionaries and independent philanthropists, too, continued to work incessantly for their cause.
For example, Major General Claude Martin, a French soldier and philanthropist, established La Martiniere school in 1836. The Sisters of Loreto established Loreto Convent in Darjeeling in 1846, while the Sisters of Cluny established St. Joseph’s Convent in Chandannagar in 1861. Today, Bengal alone has over a hundred convent schools, ranging from primary to higher secondary, run by different missionary groups.
One major factor that led to the immense popularity of these convents was their inclusive nature. The missionaries insisted on teaching all their pupils together in the schools. They divided their students into classes, not according to their social or economic status but simply according to academic merit. All this helped the gradual disruption of a hierarchical society based on caste and its replacement by an embryonic “meritocracy”.
The single-sex educational institution also offered an independent and valuable safe space for young girls and gave parents the confidence to let their daughters step out from the private realm to the public. The growth of the English language as a fantasy among middle-class Indians also pushed for convent education where English was the medium of instruction in schools.
The comparatively lower and affordable school fees and holistic moral development alongside intellectual stimulation further consolidated its popularity. The notions of a “good girl” according to Christian values as taught in these convent schools resonated with the oriental Indian idea of how a woman should behave.
Although these convents have contributed immensely to changing the face of women’s education throughout the country, one should not forget that convents emerged in India as part of the colonial project to “civilize the savages”. Thus, the idea of a “good girl” or a “lady” still comes from a colonial and Christian concept of womanhood.
Moreover, this idea of a “good convent educated girl” has found its way to the nefarious Indian marriage market in recent times. Matrimonial ads in newspapers and websites have historically discriminated against women by objectifying and commodifying them.
But unlike yesteryears, families don’t just want “fair, slim and homely” brides for their sons; now they also want their daughters-in-law to be “convent-educated”. This feeds into the larger narrative of modernity, education, and progress.
According to me, this has a twofold reason. The first obvious reason is that of social prestige and pride. Bragging about the new bride’s qualifications to relatives, friends, and neighbours is a good conversation starter. The second, more subtle reason is linked to the idea of childbirth and motherhood. A convent-educated girl will successfully execute the role of the primary teacher as is expected of any mother.
Another cause of suspicion comes in the form of religious fanaticism wherein convents are accused of propagating excessive Christian religious beliefs and agendas among students, unconsciously or so, to convert them to Christians.
A fairly recent feminist critic against convents schools argues about the heavy regulations imposed on girls studying in such schools. Girls are constantly fed regressive narratives about what they should wear and how they should behave. They are judged from the length of their skirts to the number of male friends they have. The notions of modesty and self-sacrifice are glorified as essential feminine traits. Growing up amidst such regressive notions results in young girls conforming to these ideas.
Given the changing times, parents and guardians should judge schools individually based on their necessity and demands and then conclude. No school is perfect. No school has it all. The face of convent schools has changed drastically since their first establishment in India.
However, what is pertinent is that these convents (or, for that matter, any school or institution) take accountability for their flaws and actively work to settle them. The purpose of schools should be to provide a safe environment for the holistic development of a child, not morally police them, instilling binaries of good and bad at the very formative age.
The author is a Kaksha Correspondent as a part of writers’ training program under Kaksha Crisis.