A Star that changed many a Destiny

In a place as remote as Dhanbad, in Jharkhand, a young American came down to start a world class school.

As early as in the 1950s, traveling from Calcutta in an ordinary train, many times hanging on the footboard, Father George Anthony Hess would visit Dhanbad to find a piece of land for a school of his vision.

There would be several Jesuit missionaries who must have taken a similar journey with the view to establish world class education in the smaller districts of India. This man was characteristically distinguished.

As time later showed, Fr Hess, created a school with disciplines, faculties, infrastructure and other formats that were rare in the 1960s, 70s and later until the 80s: unthinkable not just in Dhanbad, but all of India and also in many developed cities around the world.

Later when I spoke to him, he shared that he saw the best schools in Baltimore, USA and when he arrived on his mission to Dhanbad, he wanted not just all that those schools had, but better. He motivated a few scholars in Physics, Chemistry and other sciences to travel all the way to Dhanbad when there was no air conditioning, nor the very basic amenities.

De Nobili, the school, spread over 16 acres of landscape: with greens, flowers, trees and playgrounds – far away from the main city, almost 15 miles towards a remote corner called Digwadih  Led by a highly committed team of educationists, who were given apartments to stay within the campus, the school was also charmed by a Girls school, Mount Carmel, across the road.

De Nobili allowed you to keep hair long on the shoulders, wear bell bottom trousers without a limit on the circle that created on your heeled shoes in the mid and late 70s. The seniors were also given an unsightable area to smoke. Neat and clean white shirt, khaki pant and black shoes was the only compulsion. Everything else was inconsequential.

You were taught to know the subjects, not pushed to accomplish. If you accomplished, you will be celebrated. If you were ordinary, you were recognized even for the wonderful smile you carried.

Quite naturally such ideas made to an institution that is rare – very few know, but those who know, don't they? Our Alumni confess that they did not find another institution of those high standards and benchmarks, neither in India nor overseas as they took their later education.

A school that had jet taps for drinking water, glass boards, audio visual systems, telescope and several other unheard then. Top quality Tennis and Basketball Courts. Reading Labs. Aero Modeling Club. Photography Club with in house lab. Student Council with a role in School Governing policies. A genuinely active Interactive Club. They were all very uniquely designed and imaginatively practiced.

I wonder how he instilled so much passion among teachers to innovate and present education in a way that engaged and involved the interests of their students. How, so many best qualified teachers came from various parts of India to live in a remote inhabitation surrounded by coalfields, and how Fr Hess drove their spirit to stay beyond an unlimited benchmark.

In the mid 70s he had another idea – to provide an exclusive laboratory oriented science education – and within a few years we had a 5 storeyed Science Block, air conditioned facilitated by an OTIS lift that may have been exclusively transported to that remote land then. Physics, Chemistry and Biology occupied a floor each; the library on the first and a canteen on the ground.

De Nobili never offered less than anything than the trend setter in the top educational institutions globally. A recess after every two classes, simpler bi-weekly tests, not the knowledge testing examinations, were features that challenged the very strict and disciplined environments of other Jesuit schools.

De Nobili now has over 25 branches around Dhanbad and has produced several well accomplished professionals, entrepreneurs, executives, administrators, scientists and educationists around the globe. At the same time, I have not heard of any who did not get past the challenge on the streets.

Fr Hess, I fondly remember celebrating his 91^st birthday five years ago when he arrived from the USA in Mumbai – straight after a surgery for a minor cancer in his arm and within hours of landing in the city!

I took my family to meet him over cocktails and dinner that he enjoyed thoroughly well past mid night among thirty of us Nobilians. He shared with us a few rare moments as a young handsome priest, an accomplished educationist, a mentor and as a champion for best quality education all through.

I have deep respect for people who go beyond the challenges of life and set a mission of their own. I have met very few in real life. Fr Hess is way above – lesser known but immensely committed. You may not have changed the world, but you have changed the destiny of many!

May your spirit Live and your Soul be in Bliss as You will live within us for long. 

A Link that gives the biography of Fr Hess:

http://www.loyola.edu.in/alumni-main menu-59/reminisces/58-articles/118-the-life-of-father-hess