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Country’s only Marathi school run by Jews completes 141 years
Sir Elly Kadoorie School one of the 5 Jewish schools and the only Marathi school managed by Jews is going to celebrate its 141st birthday coming Tuesday. Originally envisaged as a girl’s only school it opened its gates to both sexes a little before independence.
Come Tuesday next week, a school will quietly celebrate 141 years of its existence. However, a much bigger celebration is in order as the Sir Elly Kadoorie School is one of the five schools runs by Jews in India — and in fact the only one which is Marathi medium. However, no Jews study in the school, with the last 2 students from the community passing out in 2007.
Let’s look at the journey of this iconic school. Located in the leafy locality of Mazagaon, the quaint two-storey stone structure was set up in 1875 by Haeem Samuel Kehimkar, who had devoted his life to the community and particularly to the advancement of Jewish education among the Bene Israel children.
This Marathi and Hebrew elementary school was initially named Israelite School and operated out of a small bungalow in Dongri. In 1935, the school was formally named after Sir Elly Kadoorie, an Indian-born businessmen based in Shanghai who gave it a considerable endowment.
“Kehimkar set up the school after noticing that girls from the community did not have access to education. The school initially operated out of a bungalow and moved into the present premises only after Kehimkar could accumulate sufficient funds to purchase this plot in Mazagaon. The school has been running from the present site since 1899,” Ezra Moses, Honorary Treasurer and Trustee of the school, said.
Sometimes before Independence, the school opened its gates to both the sexes as well as all communities that lived in the vicinity. It speaks volumes of the flexibility of the school at that time that it would provide Hebrew classes and lessons in Judaism to its Jewish students and secular education to the rest of the class. The number of Jewish students started dwindling after the formation of Israel — which led to an exodus of Jews from the country.
“From a time when nearly 90% of our students were Jewish, we reached a point where we do not have a single Jewish teacher or student. Our last Jewish teacher retired in 2001 and we had two Jewish students who passed out in 2007,” Ezriel Penkar, Honorary Secretary of the school, said.
The current profile of students who attend the school today mainly constitute of Maharashtrians and Muslims who stay in Mazagaon and the surrounding areas of Byculla. Some of the well known alumni of the school include Shashikant Shinde, a minister in the previous Congress-NCP government, and former MLA Bala Nandgaonkar.
The only Jewish link left for the students is the small Jewish prayer that the students recite during morning assembly, seeking goodness and mercy.
The trustees are keen on expanding and have started a semi-English section, whose first batch cleared their SSC exams this year. “The idea of our forefathers was very clear. They wanted to help the poor and do something to help foster the Marathi language. We want to carry on this legacy as long as we can,” Moses says
*The above content first appeared in Indian Express