St Joseph's School, Imphal

Silver Jubilee Celebration

2008-10-20T09:21:00.000-07:00

SJS, Imphal is completing 25 years and to mark the event, a Silver Jubilee Celebration is being planned. It's on 24th and 25th October, 2008. This message goes out to all Alumni of SJS, Imphal. Please go and be a part of the event to make it complete. 24th His Excellency the Governor of Manipur will be the chief guest and on 25th hon'ble Chief Minister will b the chief guest.

Anyone who goes there, please take a few good pictures and send it across to ingudam at gmail dot com to share with the rest of fellow Josephites through this blog.

Remembering Father Mathew Planthottam

2007-11-28T00:21:00.000-08:00

By Monindro Ingudam

At the time when I was young playing 'kangdrum'( hockey) with my local friends, with sticks made of bamboo and balls made of bamboo roots with nothing on but a 'khudei naneibi', we have heard of this one father in P.T.C., who gave a new football to some children who had visited him. We marvel at the idea of visiting him and getting one for ourselves too. Times were different then and the prospect of getting a new football was most exciting. That was the first time I have heard about Fr. Mathew Planthottam .

Father Mathew Planthottam took up the main task of founding St. Joseph's School at Sangaiparou. Perhaps, a school exclusively for boys was deemed necessary at that time as the neighboring Little Flower School (which used to have male students upto IV th standard) wanted to altogether stop admitting boys. It was only in my V th standard after I have shifted from Little Flower School to St. Josephs School that I first met Fr. Mathew.

Father Mathew was strict in running his school. Years went by till we reached IX th. standard and the prospect of appearing the first board examination loomed over our head. Then came the Matriculation Examinations. Being the first batch of the school to appear for this examination, there was that that high expectations and pressure to perform from all sides. Father Mathew made special arrangements for extra classes and encouraged the students in many ways. At the end a total of 23 students appeared for the examinations and the result was an astounding 4 position holders (out of the first 10), 17 first divisions, 6 second divisions. St.Joseph's School became a name to reckon with. All thanks to Fr. Mathew, it was his sheer hardwork and dedication that has made St. Josephs School the way it is today.

I had met Fr.Mathew after all these years in September during my visit to Imphal this year. He had retired from active service owing to his age, and was staying in Mantripukri. I had gone there with my friend Nandakumar and we had taken dry fruits, biscuits and other items for him. He was so happy to see his students and we ended up spending a good two hours there talking. We spoke about the school, current scenario of the state, and of course his favorite topic of all, his students. We would give information on his students and what they are doing now. Many have become doctors, engineers, businessmen, govt.servants etc. At the end of the talk my only regret was that I didn't go there more often and I had promised myself to do that.

Fr. Mathew came from a land far away but had spent most of his life in Manipur. He understood the people and had served them well. He spoke more languages of the region than most people do and has done more good for the people of this state. In doing so he has become one of us, a true Manipuri. For this we thank Fr. Mathew deep from our heart. I request my friends to raise a toast to celebrate his life that was.

Thank you Father Mathew.

2007-01-27T00:08:00.000-08:00

How many of us know how our beloved SJS started off? I ain't too sure how it started too ... I know for sure that bulk of boy students, initially, came from Little Flower School. I was one of them :-)

I remember the SJS interview vividly. I remember the times I was in Little Flower School as well, thanks to a horrid trouble I had where I fell into a pool of water. Some memoirs eh?

rajesh said...: well i joined the scool in 1983 the year it was founded .Those days we had only three or four classrooms and the walls were of bamboo. It was only in 1984 that the old block (dont know if it exists now) was inaugrated(if my memory serves me right).The road to the school itself was an adventure.But we have come a long way since then.....

robert said...: As far as m concerned i was there da first day our school came into existence...i was a 94 batch batch n it was da year all da boys gt kicked out of L.F.S...and one thing i learnt 4rm my school was there was discipline(sir.rajen's leegee moraa)and no shuti huramba?? i would say all da credit goes goes 2 father mathew fernandes (george)i reckon only few knew abt dis ???? ha.. ha.. ha..

nymay n sunshine(robert,rowland,rocky,rajesh,onil)n all da josephites...cheers...hoa..

2005 Batch

2007-01-22T03:15:00.001-08:00

2004 Batch

2007-01-22T03:14:00.004-08:00

2003 Batch

2007-01-22T03:14:00.003-08:00

2002 Batch

2007-01-22T03:14:00.001-08:00

Picture of 2002 X-B . Contributed by Tony Thiyam.

2001 Batch

2007-01-22T03:13:00.005-08:00

Picture of Group Class Photo 2001 Batch (Section A)

Sender : Oinam Vikram Singh

2000 Batch

2007-01-22T03:13:00.003-08:00

1999 Batch

2007-01-22T03:13:00.001-08:00

1998 Batch

2007-01-22T03:12:00.004-08:00

1997 Batch

2007-01-22T03:12:00.003-08:00

1996 Batch

2007-01-22T03:12:00.001-08:00

1995 Batch

2007-01-22T03:11:00.000-08:00

Photos of one of the 2 sections in 1995.

Below is the picture where we presented the Thabal Chongba in a cultural program. It was also an opportunity for many of us to learn Thabal Chongba :-)

1994 Batch

2007-01-22T03:10:00.004-08:00

1993 Batch

2007-01-22T03:10:00.003-08:00

1992 Batch

2007-01-22T03:10:00.001-08:00

1991 Batch

2007-01-22T03:09:00.000-08:00

1990 Batch

2007-01-22T03:08:00.000-08:00

The first batch of Saint Joseph's School.

I vividly remember this batch breaking all sorts of expectations in terms of academic expectations. Being the first batch, the school was looking up to it to take some ranks in the top slots. They didn't disappoint either. They took about about 5 positions in the first 10. That set the trend for the rest of the batches to follow.