KATHMANDU (UCAN) -- The Ministry of Education awarded Catholic-run St. Mary's School in Jawalakhel, just south of Kathmandu, as the top school in the Hindu Kingdom's Mid-zonal region on Nepal's Education Day, Feb. 24.

At a program presided over by the education minister, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala presented Sister Margaret Mary, the school's principal, with a shield, a Nepalese flag, a certificate and 50,000 rupees (about US$746).

Education should strengthen the nation and not be used by politicians to strengthen politicians, Koirala said at the program at Kathmandu's City Hall.

St. Mary's in Jawalakhel, one of four St. Mary's schools run by the Mary Ward nuns in Nepal, was awarded for its 1998 School Leaving Certificate (SLC) examination results, in which all but two girls passed in the first division.

However, the National Birendra Knowledge Shield for the best school in the country and a cash prize of 100,000 rupees (about US$1,493) was awarded to Brihaspati School, named after the Sanskrit name for the planet Jupiter.

An award for the best village school in the country went to a school in the western region district of Bajhang, where there is no Catholic presence.

The St. Mary's Schools in Kathmandu and in Pokhara (estern region) each also had all their girls pass the SLC with first division marks except for two with second division marks. The St. Mary's in Gorkha (western), established in 1993, has not yet had a graduating class.

Besides these schools, the Mary Ward, or Religious of the Virgin Mary, Sisters have also opened two Mary Ward schools on the outskirts of Kathmandu specifically for children from poor families.

Some 330 primary level students study at these schools, which have no set tuition fees and for which students pay as little as 10 rupees a month.

"Asman" (sky), the association for alumni of the St. Mary's schools, provides funds for the Mary Ward school students and teachers, and also aids several poor village schools, Sister Margaret Mary told UCA News Feb. 24.

The alumni also have a children's library with a mobile wing, and have refurbished the public maternity hospital in Kathmandu with new equipment, run counseling sessions for students, and organized environmental projects and activities centering on human rights for women, she said.

Although the award for the best school in the country did not go to a Catholic-run school this time, as it did last year to Jesuit-run St. Xavier's School for boys in Kathmandu, Brihaspati School does have Catholic links.

Its chief founder, the late Maurice Banerjee, was vice principal of Jesuit-run St. Joseph's school in Darjeeling, India, where he worked for 30 years.

The current principal, Anand Gurung, was educated in Catholic schools and was appointed prefect for St. Joseph's by Jesuit Monsignor (then Father) Anthony Sharma, currently apostolic prefect of Nepal, who served as rector of the school for many years before he came to Nepal.

King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, the anniversary of whose coronation 24 years ago on Feb. 24 serves as the occasion for the national Education Day, attended St. Joseph's School in Darjeeling.

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