John Baptist Miranda: A popular teacher and an innovative Principal
By Dr. Eugene DSouza, Moodubelle
Bellevision Media Network
Moodubelle, 02 September 2010: As the Teachers’ Day approaches, it would be appropriate to know about the teachers who have shaped the careers and lives of hundreds of students. In this respect the journey of one such teacher-John Baptist Miranda from his village at Bellur to different institutions for education and finally to Moodubelle where he started his service as a teacher and eventually rose to become the principal of Junior Colleges at Madanthyar and Shirva had been quite eventful and inspiring. He has left a mark in the field of education not only as a popular teacher but also a successful and innovative administrator.
John Baptist Miranda, originally from Bellur near Polali, born on 21st April 1947, is the fifth in the family of eight children, five sons and three daughters of Marian and Regina Miranda. After completing primary education at his native place-Bellur, John Baptist proceeded to Uppinangady where he studied up to SSLC and thereafter continued college education at St. Philomena’s College, Puttur where he acquired BA degree in 1972. Being interested in teaching profession he did teachers’ training course at Udupi and secured B. Ed. Degree in 1973.
During Fr. VGF Rego’s tenure as the parish priest of Moodubelle and headmaster of St. Lawrence High School, John Baptist Miranda took the first step in the teaching profession soon after completing B.Ed. course in 1973 by joining the high school. He was asked to teach Social Studies right from the eighth to tenth standards.
Being not satisfied with mere graduation degree and aiming at higher qualifications and better opportunities, John Baptist studied for the post graduate qualification and succeeded in acquiring MA degree in History from the Karnataka University, Dharwad in 1978.
The forward journey in the path of teaching profession of John Baptist Miranda has been closely linked with the growth of St. Lawrence High School to the next stage, that of Pre University College in 1981 during the tenure of Fr. Alexander Lobo. As post graduation was the criteria for Junior College lecturers, John Baptist Miranda who had already acquired that qualification was the natural choice to be the lecturer in History in the newly established St. Lawrence Composite PU College. However, as there was no government grant to the Junior College till 1988, John Baptist did not give up his post in the high school and continued teaching in both in Junior College and high school till 1986.
Teaching both in the high school and PU College was quite a heavy task for John Baptis. However, he persevered with the hope that after the mandatory five years the government would sanction grant to the junior college so that he would get the scale and full salary. Taking a calculated risk, in 1986, John Baptist gave up his teaching post in the high school and took full time lecturer’s post in the PU College. However, the government postponed sanctioning grant to St. Lawrence PU College for another two years and John Baptist had to work in the junior college on honorary basis without full salary. His love for teaching and appreciation of the students kept him going. Later, with the arrival of the government grant to the PU College from 1988, the pay of all lecturers in the college was regularised and thus, John Baptist had the satisfaction of both job security and regular government salary.
In 1995, John Baptist was requested by the then Bishop of Mangalore, Rt. Rev. Dr. Basil D’Souza to take up the responsibility as the principal of the Sacred Heart Junior College in Madanthyar in the Belthangady taluk where he served for two years up to 1997. During his tenure as the principal, John Baptist managed to clear the outstanding loan that was incurred for the construction of the junior college building. He also improved the play ground of the junior college. Realising the financial difficulties of the poorer students, John Baptist persuaded the Correspondents to give fee concession to them. It was chiefly due to his efforts in improving the quality of education that the PUC results in 1997 registered 99.27 per cent, the highest ever so far. During two years of this tenure as the principal, the results of the Sacred Heart Junior College, Madanthyar were highest among the Catholic Board of Education (CBE) Junior Colleges in the diocese.
After two years of successful and fruitful stint as the principal in Madanthyar, John Baptist was transferred to St. Mary’s PU College at Shirva in 1997 following the retirement of Alban Rodrigues who had been the principal of that college.
John Baptist Miranda served as the principal of St. Mary’s Junior College from 1997 to 2005. During his tenure he had the unique privilege of celebrating the Golden Jubilee of St. Mary’s High School and the Silver Jubilee of St. Mary’s PU College. As the memorial of these two jubilees, separate building, at the cost of Rs. 20 lakhs was constructed to house Physics, Chemistry and Biology laboratories. He had good and cordial relations with the Correspondents of St. Mary’s Educational Institutions-Fr. Lawrence Gomes for four years and later Fr. Valerian Pinto.
In order to promote discipline among the students and improve their academic performance, John Baptist introduced certain innovative measures in St. Mary’s Composite PU College. He would to hold parents-teachers meetings thrice in an academic year. He introduced the practice of issuing progress report only to the parents as they would know directly the performance of their children and sign these reports in front of the principal. If any student remained absent without any reason, he would himself telephone the parents to find out the reason for the absenteeism of their children. These innovative measures led to an overall improvement both in the attendance and academic performance of the students. In order to encourage the weaker students, John Baptist introduced the practice of holding extra classes after the school and college hours. Due to these measures for seven out of eight years of his tenure as the principal of St. Mary’s PU College, the PUC results of the college were highest in the Udupi District and the Catholic Board of Education (CBE), 99.18 per cent being the record and seven times the college received the CBE shield for best results among the Junior Colleges under its jurisdiction.
With a concern of the needs of the disadvantaged students, John Baptist introduced certain measures that helped a number of poorer students to pursue higher education. Besides fee concession, John Baptist devised a novel measure known as ‘uniform bank’. He would request the Second Year PUC students to donate their uniform which was in good condition to the ‘uniform bank’ at the end of the academic year that would be given to the needy students during the next academic year. He also introduced the concept of ‘book bank’ for the needy students. During the tenure of John Baptist as the principal, the Science Club of the college participated in the national level competition in research activities.
After a long period of service as a teacher and administrator of Junior Colleges at Madanthyar and Shirva, John Baptist retired in 2005. Soon after his retirement, Fr. Valerian D’Souza, who was looking for an administrator for St. Lawrence English Medium School in Moodubelle requested him to spare some of his time and take the responsibility of setting the English medium school on the right path. Thus, for three years from 2005 to 2008, John Baptist served as the principal of St. Lawrence English Medium School.
John Baptist Miranda married Hilda Aranha of Moodubelle in May 1977, who has been serving as a teacher in St. Lawrence High School. She was born on 15th August 1954. Her father, late Leo Aranha was an ex-serviceman who had served in the Indian Air force and her mother’s name is Agnes Aranha. Hilda had studied in the Parish educational institutions in Moodubelle and later pursued her college studies from the Milagres College, Kallianpur from where she acquired the BCom degree in 1974. She did teacher’s training course in the Manipal College of Education and secured B Ed degree in 1975. Hilda Aranha started her teaching career in 1975 in St. Lawrence High School, Moodubelle and is still serves as a teacher since 35 long years. She is a very good compeer and has been a popular teacher. Hilda Aranha was the Secretary of the Golden Jubilee Celebration Committee when St. Lawrence High School observed its Golden Jubilee during the last week of December 2009.
This teacher couple has two sons-the eldest, Johnson has BSc and MBA degrees and is presently working for the Axis Bank as Relationship Manager in Udupi. He is married to Rashmi Michelle from Ashoknagar, Mangalore. Rashmi with BSc and MBA degrees is working as Assistant Manager in the Vijaya Bank in Mangalore. The second son of John Baptist and Hilda, Jason has done Mechanical Engineering (BE) degree from Nitte and is presently working for the Essar Technologies as Deputy Manager in Mumbai.
Looking back at his service as a teacher and principal, John Baptist Miranda is quite happy that he chose a profession that has given him immense joy and satisfaction. His past students have high regards for him as a teacher and a fine human being, who had been always helpful in their needs.