Peter Raphael Aranha-the past student of St. Lawrence high school who won the best teacher award

By Eugene Moodubelle

Moodubelle, 20 December 2009: By winning the Best Teacher National Award in 2003, Peter Raphael Aranha, popularly known as Raphael Master, the past student of St. Lawrence High School and presently the Head Master of Church Aided Higher Primary School, Moodubelle put the name of the village on the national map. It was a great occasion not only for Raphael Master personally and his family, but also for the entire village and especially the Higher Primary School, where he was a student, teacher and presently the Head Master  and St. Lawrence High School where he was a student. It was the greatest moment of his life and achievement when Raphael Master personally received the Best Teacher National Award from the then President of India A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

Born on 8th October 1952, Raphael Aranha was one among three sons and four daughters of late Leo and Maria Aranha. He acquired his education right from the primary to the PUC in Moodubelle itself.  He was a student of St. Lawrence High School from 1966 to 1969.  Social Studies was his favourite subjects and among his teachers he still remembers with respect the Kannada teacher, Mukunda Puranik, late Govind Nayak and Subramanya Bhat.  While in the High School, Raphael Master took part in sports and games. Being tall, he was very good in Volleyball game. He also participated in cultural activities especially drama. He remembers the play ‘Tipu Sultan’ in which he had taken part.

After completing the SSLC examination in 1969, Raphael continued his one year PUC studies in St. Lawrence PU College that was established by Fr. V.G.F. Rego that existed for one year only in 1970.  In the PUC, Raphael developed an interest in the subject of History that was taught by late Gaspar Lewis. He also remembers Fr. Sylvester Vas, who taught English.

As he had made up his mind to be a teacher, Raphael joined the Kumuda Umashaknar Teachers Training College at Kokkarne, Udupi for the two years TCH (Teachers’ Certificate Higher) course. Raphael said that as there were only eight Christians out of 200 teacher trainees, they had better respect and honour.

After completing the teachers’ training course, Raphael joined the Church Aided Higher Primary School, Moodubelle as a teacher in 1975. He was assigned 5th, 6th and 7th standards to teach Social Studies. Meanwhile, Raphael Master decided to better his prospects by continuing education and completed graduation from the Mysore University through correspondence course in 1978. Armed with the graduate degree, Raphael Master went on to get the B Ed degree from the Annamalai University, Tamilnadu in 1983.

Raphael Master greatly appreciated the guidance given to him by the senior teachers of the school in his teaching career who were also his favourite teachers in the same school while he was a student. He feels indebted to the unstinted support and guidance given to him by Benny, Sadananda and Willie Masters.

Following the retirement of Benny Master as the Head Master of the Higher Primary School, Raphael Master was elevated to the position of the Head Master in 1990. During these past twenty years as the head of the Higher Primary School, Raphael Master has been quite active in improving the overall performance of the school and developing the school campus. He revived the Old Students Association with the initiative taken by Nagraj Kamat, the cashew factory owner at Nellikatte. The old students have been supporting the school by providing various teaching aids and sports and games equipments. One family of the old students donated money to lay out a garden in front of the school. There are a number of old students who have been donating various amounts of money for the betterment of the school and its students. Because of the overall development that has taken place, the school has been receiving awards at the taluka and district levels.

The Higher Primary School has been in the forefront in academics and sports and games. Brenda Martis, daughter of Benedict Martis, the present President of the Lions Club of Moodubelle scored highest marks at the District level in the 7th standard public examination. Another first rank holder at the District level is Vinambratha Ramanna Shettigar. In sports and games the school team had even reached the Karnataka State level competitions. The girls Volleyball team that was coached by Sadananda and Raphael Masters succeeded in winning the gold medal at the State level competitions held at Kolar in 1986.

During the tenure of Raphael Master as the Head Master of the school, Taluka level sports meet and District level Volleyball tournaments were successfully conducted in September 2002. Ten Volleyball teams from five ranges of the Udupi District had participated in this tournament.

In order to promote the habit of saving among the school children the project of Sanchayaka Bank was continued by Raphael Master with more and more students taking its advantage. Students would deposit certain amount of money as per their capacity every week of which accounts are being kept. The money thus collected from the students is deposited in the Karnataka Bank and presently around four lacs of rupees are in the credit of the schoolchildren.

Recognizing the qualities of Raphael Master as an effective teacher and good administrator as the Head Master of the Church Aided Higher Primary School, accolades and awards were conferred on him. He was chosen as one of the Best Teachers at the District level in 1998. In 2001, Raphael Master was awarded the Best Teacher at the Karnataka State level and in 2002 he was conferred with the highest teachers’ award in India as the Best Teacher National Award. Raphael Master said that being conferred the award by an eminent personality, A. P.J. Abdul Kalam, who was then the President of India, was the memory that he will cherish throughout his life.

While speaking about the condition of the school and the education in Kannada medium as a whole, Raphael Master said that the number of students in Kannada medium schools everywhere including in Moodubelle has been dwindling. The reason for this being the preference of the parents to send their children to English medium schools in the modern age of liberalization and globalization and the overall decline in the number of children in the village.  At present there are 352 children who are spread over into ten divisions and there are ten teachers and one honorary teacher. The government has been providing free text books to all the students. Midday meal is also provided to the students. Raphael Master is quite appreciative of the Bellevision which has been sponsoring the education of 15 students from the impoverished families right from the 1st to 7th standards. He feels that still there is a lot of developmental work in the school that needs attention. The priorities being the acquisition of computers and building of the compound wall on the northern side of the school campus.

Though he is busy with the teaching and administrative work in the school, Raphael Master has been involved in the social work in the parish and the village. He was the Founder President of the Moodubelle unit of the Catholic Youth movement (YCM) now renamed as the Indian Catholic Youth Movement (ICYM). After marriage, Raphael Master became an active member of the St. Vincent de Paul Society from its inception in 1978. He was also its President for some time. At present, he is the Vice President of both the Area Council Udupi and Central Council Mangalore Diocese. He is one of the members of the governing body of the Ozanam Home for the Aged at Kallianpur that is run by the St. Vincent de Paul Society. He is also a member of the Catholic Sabha. In the field of education, Raphael Master was the President of the Primary School Teachers’ Association. Since two years, he is the editor of the Parish journal-‘Suvaad’.

Raphael Master is a family man. He was married in 1977 to Leena Sequeira of Kattingeri, also a teacher in the same school. They have two children. Elder daughter-Priya has done BSc in Nursing and teaches Nursing Course in Yenopayya Nursing School at Derlakatte in Mangalore. She is married to Arun, a businessman in Mangalore and they have two children. The younger son-Preetham has an engineering degree in Instrumentation. He is working for the Tata Consultancy Service (TCS) and is presently in the United States. Raphael Master has his house very close to the school and he has few exquisite plants that produce beautiful flowers. 

As St. Lawrence High School completes fifty years of its existence, Raphael Master who was a student of the institution feels that a lot of development has taken place in terms of infrastructure and other facilities. During his time, people in general and administration of the High School had to face many difficulties in terms of lack of resources. He feels that it was chiefly due to the foresightedness and interest of the successive Correspondents and Principals that St. Lawrence High School and PU College has progressed in all fields of activities. Fr. Paul Sequeira, the present Principal of the PU College has been doing good work and under his leadership the Golden Jubilee celebrations of St. Lawrence High School will be a grand success.