POKHARA, Nepal (UCAN) -- Government officials in Nepal have praised the Congregation of Jesus-run St. Mary's School for the quality education it provides girls in western Nepal.

The school in Pokhara, Nepal's second-largest city, about 200 kilometers west of Kathmandu, celebrated its silver jubilee May 31-June 1.

Over the two days local and regional government officials joined students, parents, priests, nuns and local well-wishers in anniversary activities.

Chitra Prasad Devkota, regional education officer for western Nepal, told one gathering: "St. Mary's School stands for values and imparts moral education to the young children, which is the need of the hour."

Similarly, Bali Ram Singh, Pokhara's chief district officer, credited the school for pursuing its students' all-round development. "St. Mary's School is different because of its quality education. I like two components of the school -- discipline and punctuality," he said.

District education officer Surya Prasad Gautam also complimented the school for imparting values education. "Many students turn out to be doctors, pilots and engineers," he noted, but "if they have no values in life, it does not matter what posts they hold in society."

Congregation of Jesus nuns told UCA News the first group of their sisters who came to Pokhara started the school in 1983 with 64 students. The nuns stayed in a rented room while discerning possible apostolates and decided they could best serve the local people by offering quality education. Today the school has classes from grade one to 10, with 800 students and a staff of 30.

For the new academic year that starts next month, the school will add grades 11 and 12, which prepare students to apply for university.

"I am proud of the fact that so many girls who have passed out of the school are doing well as bank managers, school teachers and in other business sectors," Sister Mary Elsie said.

"I am very happy since the girls who have studied in the school have kept up their values," Sister Rufina Pulianthuruthel added. "They have formed an association named ASMAN (sky) to help the poor students of government schools by providing books, uniforms and stationery."

Sister Margaret Mary, Congregation of Jesus superior in Nepal, presented a computer slideshow illustrating the school's 25-year-history. It showed students taking part in activities such as cleaning roads and planting tree saplings outside the school premises. It also showed students helping women in the neighborhood with tailoring classes and teaching evening tutorial classes for students from other schools.

Dhruba Panthi, the father of one student, told UCA News: "St. Mary's School is the pride of Pokhara. It has given the light of wisdom to many girls of the town and elsewhere."

Substantiating his observation, grade-10 student Shristi Lama told UCA News she understands what the nuns are trying to do. "I have learned life values in this school, and I shall put them into practice once I am out of the institution," she said.

At the jubilee Mass, Bishop Anthony Sharma, apostolic vicar of Nepal, highlighted the "dedicated services" of the Congregation of Jesus nuns. "I appeal to all to pray for the welfare of the school," the chief celebrant added.

The Religious of the Virgin Mary, one branch of which became the Congregation of Jesus in 2004, established its first school at Jawalakhel in Kathmandu in 1955. Later, in 1986, the nuns opened a school in Jhamsikhel, another section of the capital. In 1991 they expanded with a school in Gorkha, about 80 kilometers west of Kathmandu. Six years later, they opened yet another school in Lubhu, Kathmandu, and most recently, this year, one in Biratnagar, about 200 kilometers southeast of the capital.

The congregation has 34 nuns working countrywide, six of them in Pokhara. They came under their congregation's Patna Province in neighboring India until 2006, when Nepal was made an independent region within the congregation's administrative setup.

Besides education, the nuns are also involved in literacy programs, tutoring, tailoring classes, health ministry and the Young Christian Students movement in schools and parishes. The international congregation was founded by Mary Ward in 1609 in Great Britain, after the model of the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, the Catholic Church's largest congregation for men.

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