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History

Nirmala High School, which is now ranked as one of the few best institutions in Vijayawada, had a very humble origin. When the School started functioning on 17th June,1963, it had only 196 students from KG to class III class, that, too, in a cattle shed at Patamata Centre, donated by one of the local benefactors, Sri Katragadda Raghuramaiah. The Nirmala Convent started functioning on 8th July, 1963 in a rented house at Patamata.

The establishment of the school was in response to the invitation from Mgr.Ambrose Battista, then Bishop of Vijayawada, to Rev.Mother Clara Bellotti, Major Superior, India, to open an English Medium School in Vijayawada. The School was run from June 1963 to July 1964 with Sr.Rose Beretta, Superior, Sr.Adeline, in charge of the school, Sr.Magdaline, Sr.Assunta and Sr.Tarscia as collaborators.

In August 1964, Nirmala School was shifted from Patamata Centre to the present premises for which land had been bought from the Bishop. Br.Giani David, PIME, the architect of the Vijayawada diocese, gave shape to the present school buildings. The school started functioning on the new premises with Sr.Lorenza Mannala as the Headmistress. The strength of the students by then had increased to 500.

In January 1965, the first Parent’s Day was celebrated. It was presided over by Mr.G.S.Raju, an industrialist and a leader of the Congress Party. In December 1965, the school was recognized by the Department of Education after due inspection by Mr.Venkata Swamy, DEO, and Mr. Raja Gopal, Director of Public Instruction. Mr.Harinath, Advocate, was the legal advisor and he rendered valuable services to the institution. Physical education was now given its due place in the curriculum then onwords.

In 1967, several distinguished persons like His Excellency Rt Rev.J R Knox, the delegate of Pope Paul VI, and Rev.Mother Clara, the Superior General of the institution visited the school and the school adopted the motto ‘Truth, Joy and Service’. In 1968, Sr.Alice Varickmackal was appointed Headmistress.

In June 1969, Sr.Angelica Fernandez took over as the Headmistress of Nirmala High School. The school gained much discipline. During her 7-year tenure as the Headmistress, the Decennial Anniversary of the school was celebrated with great pomp and grandeur. The school received the Best School Award in 1972 and 1975 and Sr.Angelica Fernandez was also conferred with the ‘Best Principal Award’ in 1973-74.

In August, 1974 the school had the honour of being visited by Mother Teresa. The purpose of her visit was to find a house for her sisters to pursue their work of charity among the poor and the destitute. The school continued to flourish with students excelling in curricular, co-curricular and extra-curricular activities.

In the year 1973-74, the school secured a 100% pass in the SSC examinations. In November 1974, Nirmala Old Students Association (NOSA) was formed with Sr.Susan as the Director. It was inaugurated by Dr.K.L. Rao, Minister.As the school was in need of an auditorium to organize the school functions ,an auditorium was built and it was inaugurated by Bishop Thumma in 1976. It was in this auditorium that the Nobel Laureate, Mother Teresa was honoured by the citizens of Vijayawada in 1976.

In May 1976, Sr.Nancy D’Souza became the Headmistress of the school. By then the strength of the school had increased to 2000. The performance of the students in the various activities was commendable. In April 1980, Nirmala High School received permanent recognition from the Government of Andhra Pradesh, thanks to efforts made by Mr.Ramachandra Pillai, Deputy Director of School Education, and Mr. Sheriff Hussain, one of our parents. During the years 1980-1981, only girl students were admitted. Our girls were winning the overall championship for sports and games successively from 1978.

In 1985, Sr.Ancy Mary headed the school for two years and, thereafter, left the school to take up a more challenging mission in North Eastern India. In the same year, there was a revival of the Nirmala Old Students Association.

In 1987, Sr.Marina was appointed Headmistress. Under her able guidance, the school celebrated its Silver Jubilee on 6th December 1988. The celebrations lasted for two days. On the first day, a thanksgiving holy mass was celebrated by 25 priests along with Bishop Joseph Thumma. The second day of the Silver Jubilee was celebrated grandly and it was attended by Mr.M.V. Venkat Reddy, Director of Adult Education, Government of Andhra Pradesh, as the Chief Guest. The function was presided over by Dr.Jandhyala Shankar, the then Mayor of Vijayawada. Sr.Vincent Koonananickal, the then Regional Superior of the Nirmala Sisters, released the Silver Jubilee souvenir.

On January 30 1992, Sri Rajiv Sharma IAS, Collector and District Magistrate, Krishna, inaugurated the new school block. The new block was constructed to meet the requirements of the computer courses for classes VI to IX, Andhra Loyola College’s Kaladarshini Extension Programme and classrooms to accommodate the first language Hindi students.

The Administrative Block was inaugurated by the Most Rev.Joseph Thumma, Bishop of Vijayawada, on 13th November 1992.As the Primary block was under construction, the school did not celebrate its anniversary during the year 1993-94. On 21st January 1995, the new school building was inaugurated. Most Rev.Joseph Thumma, Bishop of Vijayawada, commenced the inauguration with a prayer. The Chief Guest, Sri Narayan Rao Deshmukh, IPS, Commissioner of Police, Vijayawada, inaugurated the new building

In 1996, the school secured 100% pass in the SSC exams and the Educational Department honoured the Headmistress and all the teachers of class X for their hardwork.

The academic years 1995-96, 96-97, 97-98 were unique: in each of these years, a 3-day or a 2- day Cultural or Sports Festival involving the participation of each and every student and teacher of the school was organized.

The festivals drew large crowds and won the appreciation of one and all.

In October 1998, the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of the Nirmala Sisters (MSI) took place in our school and 22 Bishops from far and wide had offered prayers for Nirmala along with 100 priests. In March 1999, Nirmala Fine Arts Day was celebrated with Sri Ayyagari Syamsundaram, an eminent veena artist and Principal of Government College of Dance and Music, as the Chief Guest.

Yet another sports Festival was celebrated in November 1999. The theme of the festival was ‘Towards the Third Millennium’. The 64th Krishna District Secondary Schools Divisional Level Games and Sports (GRIG tournaments) for the year 2000-2001 were held at Nirmala High School on the 1st and 2nd of December.

After guiding the destiny of Nirmala High School for 16 long years with the utmost resourcefulness, Sr. Maina laid down office as Headmistress as she was transferred to Siliguri on a new assignment involving much more rigorous work.

On July 1, 2003, Sr.Treasa Joseph took over as the Headmistress of the school, bringing to her new assignment long years of experience gained as a teacher and as an administrator.

In the S.S.C Public examinations held in March 2004 the school secured 99% of pass. Some of the students were selected for the Pratibha Award of the State Government and 12 students were selected for the National Men’s Scholarship awarded by the Directorate of Intermediate Education. The school received the overall shield for different competitions conducted at city level. 40th School Day Celebrations, 2004 was celebrated on a grand scale (Photo)

Nirmala Fine Arts and Annual Award Day Celebrations, 2005 was celebrated on a grand scale. A Prayer group for the High School Students has been started and is functioning under the guidance of a Jesus youth member from Delhi Co-operative learning is a part and parcel of the teaching, learning process in the school. It is the process of dividing a class into groups of six students, a heterogeneous group of high achievers and low achievers to inculcate team spirit, co-operation, inter dependence, inter personal skills and help others in the group. To create an awareness among the students to protect the natural resources and how to prevent different types of pollution, we have started an ‘Eco Club’ which comes under the organization of National Green Core (NGC)

Nirmala School sports Festivals and Annual Awards Day celebrations, 2006 was celebrated on a grand scale. School received the Best Performance School Award from the Unified council, Hyderabad. Our school was conferred with prestigious Mother Teresa Memorial Award 2005 – 2006 by the Indian Development Foundation.

After the superannuation of Sr. Treasa Joseph, Sr. Biji Philip shouldered the responsibility as the Head Mistress to lead the school in a constructive path on June, 2007.Being young and energetic she tapped the potentialities of the staff and the students and enhanced the spirit of the institution.

To crown the achievements of sports and games, our school team clinched the overall championship in the central zone Boy’s Grigg tournament in November, 2008: School Annual Day celebrations were held.

The School has installed a Smart Class Digi board system in class rooms to use digital resources such as graphics, animations, 3D images and Video clips in addition to the exciting methods of teaching. Former students of S.S.C 1984 batch installed a water purifier plant for providing safe-drinking water to the students and staff. Fourth batch of NOSA donated L.C.D Projectors in the three association halls.

The Class X batch registered excellent results of cent percent in the S.S.C Public examinations, March 2009. Headmistress Sr.Biji Philip was honoured for achieving the excellent result in S.S.C Public Examinations by the Education Department in the presence of District collector.

Students of Nirmala have once again proved their best by securing good result in the S.S.C Public examinations March 2010. NOSA Administrative office was inaugurated. S.M.S package for sending the messages to the students is introduced.

Academic excellence has always been the hallmark of Nirmala High School. The visible sign of this vibrant academic year was brought forth with the cent percent result achieved in the S.S.C Public Examinations, March 2011. Best Head mistress Award was presented by the Education Department to Sr.Biji Philip. Vidya Prada Anumolu Venkatappaiah Society, Hyderabad conferred Vidya Vikas Award – 2011 on Sr. Biji Philip as an Academician and Principal Par Excellence Presented by the Minister of Secondary Education Mr. K. Partha saradhy.