Context:
“If your plan is for one year, plant rice. If your plan is for ten years, plant trees. If your plan is for one hundred years, educate children” are the words of Confucius, the Chinese Philosopher. According to 2020 worldwide statistics, women with college (tertiary) education is 41%, while it is 36% for men. In India, it is 27.3% women, compared to 26.9% men, who are college-educated. The higher percentage of women getting educated is due to so many university colleges and institutions of higher learning that are open to welcome women. One such institution is this great college.
Jayaraj Annapackiam College for Women is the outcome of two streams of visions: The vision of St Anne’s Congregation in Trichy in the person of Mother Lucy Crescentia Mary and the entrepreneurship of Jayaraj Annapackiam family forged their commitment to the empowerment of women, especially in the rural area like Periakulam. Founded on 5th July 1971, today this institution has grown like an Education-Banyan tree, let its light of knowledge shine on the top of the hill. On behalf of Loyola College which was founded nearly 100 years ago (in 1925), I congratulate the Sisters of St Anne’s, Trichy for their wonderful service of educating, enlightening, and empowering women students. I appreciate the efforts that this institution has initiated, in the past 50 years, for the upliftment of women, especially from rural community, offering intellectual, emotional, social, cultural, and spiritual dimensions for the holistic formation of the students who would later become agents of social change.
Escape Velocity from Social Barriers:
For many developed and industrialized countries the right for women to vote in elections came in later but in India right from the beginning of Indian Republic (Jan 1950) women had the right to vote, initially from the age 21 and now from age 18. But we have still a long way to go. Though 48% of Indian population comprises women, we have only 14% of Women MPs in the Lok Sabha and just 10% in the Rajya Sabha. Though the bill demanding one-third reservation for women in the Parliament was introduced in 1996, it was passed in the Rajya Sabha in 2010 and it is yet to be approved in the Lok Sabha. The international scenario was not very much different. Till 1903 women were not considered for the Nobel Prize. Marie Curie was the first women to win the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903 and she also won the Nobel Prize in 1911 for Chemistry.
Education imparted to women students should be for justice, liberation, and leadership. You might have heard about the escape velocity (vidupadu thisai vegam). The physics students would be familiar with it. You might have seen the rocket zooming into the skies. They need a very huge kick-start with a roaring speed. This is to get out of the strong gravitational field of the surface of the earth. When the rocket reaches the threshold of earth’s gravitational force, the rocket needs a minimum velocity to leave the earth’s gravitational pull and pass into the gravitation field of another planet like the Moon or the Mars. This final velocity to get out of the earth’s power to pull back the rocket is called the escape velocity – It is 11.2 Km/sec.
In today’s society with a number of binding customs and restrictions, especially for women, you need the social escape velocity. You need to face the unreasonable barrier of the society and social customs and you should rise above the binding customs in the society so that you could rise above the forces that keep you to the bottom of the social strata in order to rise victorious as model and inspiring leaders in the society. The power comes to you from education – Education gives you not only knowledge and skills to get jobs; but also education gives you courage to break the binding forces in the society and confidence to march on showing the way to liberation, freedom, and equality to others. Be happy that you are in an empowering educational institution. And do your best in your studies.
Think of great and pioneers who showed the way in the past: You could think of the first woman teacher who brought education to the girls against all odds and obstacles. Just think of Savitribai Phule (1831-1897), who along with her husband Jyotirao Phule, founded the first Indian Girls’ Schools in Pune in 1848. Through education she could fight against discrimination and unfair treatment of women based on caste and gender. You might have read in the papers that women are now inducted and promoted in Indian army for every competent mission which needs high intellectual caliber, alertness and decision-making in a split second. And in the recent local elections in Tamilnadu, you might have read in the newspapers that Sharukala, who is just 22 years in age, is the youngest Panchayat president in Tamilnadu. She was elected the Venkatampatti Panchayat in the newly constituted Tankasi district. There is another youngest Panchayat President in the history of Kerala – Reshma Mariyam Roy, just 22, becoming the president of Aruvappulam Panchayat in Pattanamthitta District in Kerala. Jessica Cox is born without both hands but she is a licensed pilot in the USA – She operates the aircraft with her legs. Limit is what you set for yourself, otherwise even the skies would not be the limit for you.
Fight against Inequality and Discrimination:
According to the International Labour Organization in Geneva, in every country in the world, women continue to be paid less for comparable work that men do. In general, women put in more work but get less pay than men. According to Economic Times of India (07Mar2019), men in India, on an average, get paid Rs 242 per hour, while women earn Rs 46 less per hour. For the same volume of work and perhaps for the same type of work, women get paid 19% less than men. This inequality and discrimination could be addressed by you by becoming social and political leaders after your college studies. Even if you are not able to do great things, as Mother Teresa would say, whatever you do, you could do with great love, conviction, and commitment.
Education that you receive here should give you holistic formation so that you become leaders for social transformation. The education in a Catholic institution of higher learning focuses on your head, heart, and hand.
- You need to develop critical thinking – Not just taking in whatever is taught in the class and lab but you subject what your study to your analytical thinking so that you can get the maximum benefit. In addition to learning from the book, learn from the people – Learn through project work whatever subject you are in. Case study is the best way to learn effectively.
- In addition to critical thinking, you need to develop an understanding heart. When God appeared to Solomon and asked him what Solomon wanted. Solomon said: Give me, Lord, discerning mind and understanding heart (1 Kg 3:9). You need to understand and accept others as they are, especially the poor and the underprivileged.
- When your head is well trained and your heart is effectively formed, you are ready for action. You would be efficient in carrying out what is needed for the people in need.
The education you receive from this great institution is not for yourself to go up vertically in social status but to make use of it in service on a horizontal level to address the needs of others. An education focused at the societal needs would enable you fight against social and religious discrimination, inequality, and suppression.
Overcoming Obstacles:
In the history of the world we do remember brave women who have been courageous and who led the world to prosperity. You might have heard about the three most powerful and practically contemporary Prime Ministers in the World in the recent past: India Gandhi in India, Golda Meir in Israel, and Margaret Thatcher in the UK – They could bring in stability and industrial growth in their respective countries. And today there are many CEOs (Chief Executive Officers) in the world. Mary Barra of General Motors, Ginni Rometty of IBM, Maggie Timoney of Heineken, Safra Catz of Oracle, just to name a few. And you could add, Indira Nooyi, the former CEO of PepsiCo, was born in Tamilnadu. And you could also bring to your mind those women who won Olympic medals recently.
All these great people had very clear goal to achieve in life. And they thought about it, talked about it, dreamed about it, and worked for it day and night. They persevered in their aim all through their lives to achieve the goal and they endured any obstacle or difficulty. You can also do that, if you choose to. Set the goal today and start working from today onwards. Your thinking and feeling make you achieve what you want to achieve in life. Believe in yourself and trust your ability and you would become great.
Whatever be your goal, big or small, long-term or short-term, your initial investment is interest – You should like and love what you want to achieve. It should not be imposed on you from outside or by others. Others might inspire you but you should have the inner clarity what to do in your life. If the initial investment is your infinite interest, your hard work is the nurturing feed to make it take roots and grow well. You may have difficulties but remember that the road to success is always under construction and big success is a garland made of smaller successes in life. Have a vision and let your determination propel you to reach your vision.
You cannot reach the top of a mountain by just looking at it. You need to take steps and to climb the mountains – the path may be winding, stony and thorny, steep and slippery but you should keep going till you reach the top. Sometimes when you reach the top of a mountain, you would realize there is another taller and more challenging mountain – but be courageous and confident to climb up that mountain too. In the process you grow in skill and confidence.
What is Life and what for is Life?
It is good to think now and then what is life and what for is life/ We are in a world where material wealth matters more than people. It is a profit-making world. But we need to be people-centered. What matters in life is not money and property and position – We might need them. But more than any of these, what is needed is relationships – meaningful and lasting relationships. And our life should not be self-centered but other-focused. Our education in this great institution would impart to us values that would enrich our life with meaning and usefulness.
You are educated and formed to become leaders. Do not aim at becoming a manager but you should emerge as leaders. A manager is work-oriented and he/she gets things done; but a leader is people-oriented and he walks with his companions. From a Christian institution one should learn the servant leadership. Jesus said, ‘I have come not to be served but to serve’ (Mt 20:28) – And he lived it out – He washed the feet of his disciples. We also have similar episode in our literature. In Thiruvilayadal, we read about Lord Siva becoming ‘Pittuku mann sumantha Kadavul’. God comes in the form of a daily wager to help an old lady. In a world of social Darwinism, which believes in the survival of the elite and the fittest, we have to toil with the working principle that the best is at the bottom of the society. And what is important is that you do this with joy and happiness and you should be able to do it with a smile. Remember that the successful people possess two things: silence and smile. Smile to solve problems and silence to avoid problems.
Institutional Accompaniment:
In this endeavor the institution, which is the temple of learning, would be there for you. Your teachers and administrators would walk with you through mentoring and counseling. Whenever you find the going tough, they would be there for you to fall back. All the values that this institution imparts to you are time-tested over fifty golden years. Go ahead and wish you all the best. And may this banyan tree of learning, this Jayaraj Annapackiam College for Women, spread its branches to serve more and more young people. While I thank the institution for all the services done so far, I wish the college the very best in the years to come in its march towards diamond and platinum jubilees and also centenary. May God who initiated the good work in this institution, make it go ahead doing ever more and ever better.