Marian Edu-city
Marian Higher Education Campus
Menamkulam, Kazhakkuttam, Thiruvananthapuram – 695 582
[Edited on 8th September 2025]
Honourable Governor, respected guests on and off the
dais, dear staff, students, and well-wishers,
Representing two of the institutions in this campus, am
here to felicitate this great and noble venture of the diocese, namely the ‘Marian Edu-city’ which would come into existence in a short while, with its declaration
by the honourable Governor, for the higher and technical academic pursuit of
students.
In this historic moment, it would be befitting to know
this campus. After some 26 years of the creation of the diocese, its first
native bishop, Dr Peter Bernard Pereira of revered memory, bought this plot of
some 60+ (46) acres in 1963.
Now 87 years old, the diocese has become an
archdiocese, extending from Mampally near Anchuthengu to Erayumanthurai in
Kanyakumari district along with few interior parishes in the city and its
suburbs, having a population of 2,17,821 in some 58,501 families (as per 2013
survey) with rather poor educational status with:
-
Only 20.74% of
us could complete High School, 9.85% Higher Secondary, 6.26% Graduation,
2.31% Professional degree and 2.06% Diploma/Certificate in Technical Education
and Illiteracy: 9.39%. [Socio-Economic & Pastoral Survey of 2013]
With
the available high schools, higher secondary schools and colleges the need for
a technical institution was felt way back in 1999. This was deliberated
in the Board of Education, which I was fortunate enough to head, on 7th
September that year and the historic decision for the Marian Engineering
College was taken. With our fiscal constraints, we opted for just three
courses, namely Electronics and Communication, Computer Science and
Information Technology to start with. Since the BoE did not have
necessary fund, it was entrusted with the Trivandrum Social Service Society which
owned this land. And this great dream became a reality in 2001 at our St.
Vincent’s Minor Seminary [which was shifted here in 1981(April, 18th)
from Palayam later giving place for Jubilee Memorial Hospital] here. Soon it
was shifted to the present location equipped with necessary infrastructure,
leaving the space for St. Jacob’s Training College (SJTC) in 2005.
The
second seminary in the campus was converted into Little Flower Teacher
Training Institute which was dropped after a few years. 13 years since MEC,
Marian College of Architecture and Planning was started in 2014. Winding
up the TTI, Little Flower Football Academy (2015) and Marian Craft
and Arts Centre (2019) were started there. Thereafter Marian
College of Arts and Science (MCAS) was started in 2016 in the third
seminary. And today the Marian Business School also is getting launched
by the honourable Governor.
Considering
the institutions here at present and the possibility of having more in the near
future and in the context of the National Education Policy introducing Four Year Undergraduate
Program (FYUP), Integrated Courses, Multi-disciplinary Autonomous Institutions,
Private Universities etc. we wanted to ensure the possibility of higher,
professional and technical education to our students for their better future
and that of the nation. That was how Marian Edu-city is unfolding here
today in this campus paving way for autonomous or even Private University status,
if time demands, in due course.
It would be good to remember the words of Paul in
Romans, “For as in one body we have many members, and all the members do not
have the same function, so we, though many, are one body.., and individually
members one of another. (12:4-5)
May this noble venture take off to soar high in the
skies of academic pursuit providing opportunities for our students from the
community and others as well. Thank you.
Representing two of the institutions in this campus
which from this day would proudly be called the ‘Marian Edu-city’ with the
declaration of the same by the honourable Governor in a short while, am here to
felicitate this great and noble venture of the diocese for the higher and
technical academic pursuit of the society.
[This project though was a seminal proposal of the
archbishop, turned out to be a marketing technique for the MEC and MCAP at the
cost of SJTC and MCAS! The last two were side-lined, if not ignored altogether]
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