‘Goa, a little star of the East’ is a smallest Indian state that lies on the Western coast of India with an influential historical background. It attracted the powerful traders, merchants, seafarers, dynastries, monks and missionaries as it was one of the major trading centers in India. Loliem, is a small village located in the southernmost tip of the Canacona taluka in Goa. Earlier under the Kadamba Kings of Banavasi it was actually known as LOHA-HALLI (a Kannada word) later when it became a Portuguese colony the name was changed to “LOLIEM”. It is a well groomed place with hidden riches and treasures mainly in the natives, who are loving, kind, generous and hospitable to the externs. People of the village live in communal harmony. The linking bond is the spoken language, Konkani.
In April 1924 Fr. Basilio (Eufemio da Visitacao) Andrade, a native of Majorda, Goa was appointed as the chaplain of St. Sebastian chapel in Loliem. As there was no school here he started giving education to the children in the Parochial house.
In 1925, he started a Portuguese medium primary school in the existing place of the chapel and he himself was the teacher and the guru of this school.
Many children from Canacona taluka started coming to Fr. Basilio for their education, some even stayed with him for the same.
In 1926, he sent 09 students for the exam of Std IV. All of them passed with distinction. This was the fruit of his hard labour.
With his simple way of living and sacrificing nature, Fr. Basilio forgetting his own comforts sacrificed himself for the people of the village for 22 years to improve the literacy in the village without minding caste, creed, colour and religion and taught them to read and write.
After Fr. Basilio, Fr. Roberto Francisco X de Noronha carried on the work in 1942-43. Fr. Anastasio Luis from 1943-52 looked after these activities. From 1952 came Fr. Julio Francisco Daigo Santana Fernandes, the son of the soil who carried on the work of the school day and night and tried his level best to bring recognition to the school and made it as an aided school. Since there was no land for the school he gave his parochial house to run the school. Then he purchased land for the school and started constructing the building for the school. Thus he worked for 10 years from 1952-1962.
After Fr. Julio, Rev. Fr. Joao Fernandes a native of loliem, who had come from Africa was asked by the Patriarch to take over the Parish as a Parish Priest from 1962. Then he decided to fulfill the dream of Fr. Julio Fernandes build new school in the village, with the peoples contribution specially Mr. Pedro Barreto, Mr. Lazar, O Caeiro, Mr. Estello Fernandes and Mr. Gosalino Fernandes and Mr. Brento, they formed a new society called Goodwill society under Registration Act.
In 1964 Fr. Antonio Romao Pascol Damiao Da Silva Fernandes came as a Parish Priest of St. Sebastian’s Church and worked till 1974. There were many financial problems in the school he solved with the help of the people of parish. Hence it was a great challenge to run the school because there was no money for registration of the school. Mr. Sebatia Caeiro who willingly gave the registration fee and settled the matter. They worked sincerely to keep up the standard and improve the literacy in the village.
When another English medium school, in the locality was opened, the parents withdrew their children from the school in search of better prospects. The strength of the school decreased. The very existence of the school was threatened. The department of Education Panjim, Goa, issued a notice to close down the school.
Out of the two alternatives, open to them, either to close down the school, or hand it over to a missionary society, the management of Goodwill society chose the latter. Mr. Eugenio Caeiro, the Manager and secretary, Mr. Isidore Fernandes, the chairman, Mr. Jacintho Fernandes, the President of the Goodwill society handed over St. Sebastian High School with Primary and Nursery school to Bethany Educational Society, Mangalore, run by the congregation of the sisters of the Little flower of Bethany on 04.06.1988 with 78 students only.
Sr. Lucy Felcy, the member of the Bethany Congregation was the prime mover of stone that stood on the way to Loliem Institution. Her keen sense of perception made her alert for the Bethany Educational Society to remove the hurdles in its progress. She labored with great commitment as the Headmistress of St. Sebastian’s High School, at Loliem and under the guidance of Sr.Dr.Clarina the manager of school. She expired on 31st August 2000 with a terminal illness.
Ever since the Bethany Educational Society took over the Management, the progress was to the satisfaction of the locality and the Educational Department and Goa Board, Panjim. After Sr. Lucy Felcy, Sr. Ida Lobo worked with dedication as a Headmistress and Sr. Clarina as the Manager, for five years from 01-09-2000 to 06-06-2005. Then Sr. Victoria Pais was appointed as the Headmistress and Sr. Sheela as the manager worked with dedication for from 07-06-2005 till 04-06-2007. After which Sr. Tressilla Pinto worked systematically for the uplifment of the school as Headmistress and Sr. Sheela as the manager from 05-06-2007 to 05-06-2011. Once again Sr. Ida Lobo took over as Headmistress and Sr. Dominic Savio, as the manager from 05.06.2011 till August 2017 doing their best for the growth and development of the children.
After completing the doctorate, Sr. Dr. Tressilla Pinto once again from 01-09-2017 took over the school as a Headmistress giving priority not only in excellence in Education but also for the all round development of the children with the moral values so that the children are prepared to live in harmony and peace in this age of uncertainities of life and nature. Equal opportunities are provided for all the students to bring out their hidden talents by providing various activities and exposures to mix with the students of other schools in the Local, Taluka, District and State level. They take part not only in these competitions, but also National and International level and have brought laurels to our school and Bethany Educational Society. Sr. Noel B.S. who is appointed as the manager of the school from 01.06.2020 is guiding the staff and the students to achieve goal, vision through the implementation of the core values of Bethany Educational Society.
Intellectually, culturally, morally, spiritually and socially students and the staff are highly enriched, equipped with the latest and modern gadgets to improve the standard of the children and prepare them for life by instilling in the students the core values of Bethany Educational Society like (1)God experience, (2) Compassionate love for all, specially the poor and the marginalized, (3) Communion, collaboration, team spirit, (4) Excellence in terms of developing each one's unique potentialities to build a just and a humane community, (5) Truth, Love, Justice and Peace, (6) Simplicity of life style and dignity of labour,(7) Respect for life, nature, cultures, religions and love for the Nation, With the vision – “To promote the Glory of God by the Holiness of its members and the service of the Kingdom of God” to reach the goal of Bethany Educational Society – “Education for fullness of life for all specially the marginalized, the rural poor and the girls, through the integrated formation, in partnership with God to build his Kingdom”.
St. Sebastian High School, Loliem, Goa is recognized institution by the Government of Goa and Bethany Educational Society sees to its management. The society has been registered under the Society Registration Act XXI 1860 , No: 17 of 1948-49, The St. Sebastian High School is essentially a minority institution. The curriculum of Goa Directorate of Education is followed and the students are prepared for the SSC examination.
Since our school is run by management of Bethany Educational Society we follow the vision of goal of the society i.e. “ I have came in order that you might have life, in all its fullness”.(John 10:10)
The congregation of the sisters of the Little Flower of Bethany, founded in the year 1921 by Mr. R.F.C Mascarenchas has made a remarkable contribution to the country, especially in the rural areas by its ministries, particularly education. Keeping in mind the sayings of our Founder Servant of God R.F.C. Mascarenhas “ If anyone is allowed to have favorites’ it ought to be the poor who are the least blessed by nature.”
His obsessive desire was to bring fullness of life to all, especially the poor rural girls. Bethany congregation has ever striven to fulfill this dream of the Founder through its educational apostolate from the time of its inception in 1921.
As far as SSC results are concerned the school secured 100 % result in the following years: 2012-2013, 2014-2015, 2015-2016, 2017-2018, 2018-2019. We are awarded Balkrishna Prabhu Goankar memorial rolling trophy in appreciation for the achievement in the terms of highest cumulative past percentage among all the secondary schools in Canacona, at the SSC Examination held in April 2018 and 2019 (2 times) by the Nirakar Society Loliem.
The school has been awarded Swachh Vidhyalaya Puraskar from the Goa Samagra Siksha Abhiyan for the year 2017-2018. The school strength has been increased from then to now.
Sr.Dr. Tressilla Pinto, Headmistress of our school has been elected as the committee member of AINACS (All India Association of Catholic Schools) Delhi during AINACS national Convention held at Montford Mat. Higher Secondary school, Chennai from 3rd October 2017. Indian Development Foundation (Formally Indian Leprosy Foundation) felicitated Sr.Dr. Tressilla B.S our Headmistress for her committed services towards Health Education and Development on 19th August 2017.
Miss Sejal S. Pednekar and Miss Lisha Periera were selected in Goa Baseball National team. The National was held at Ahmedabad in Gujarat from 5th January 2018 to 10th January 2018.
The National level competitions were held from 27th December to 31st December 2019 Trivendrum , Kerala under the guidance of Tr. Sushma Velip and the able leadership of the Headmistress Sr. Dr. Tressilla Pinto, the two students of std VIII, Miss Soumya Vishwanath Pai and Mast. Purnay Madhu Naik along with the parent Mr. Vishwanath Pai prepared herbal papers using waste and discarded papers and plants, extract of some common plants to control the ants and termites (White Ants).
56 Students from our school appeared for the All India National Talent Search. out of these 6 students bagged gold medals, 1 silver medal and 1 bronze medal. Out of 56 students 21 students Mr. Raj Bandekar became the state ranker in science with a gold medal while Miss Shreya Pai bagged medal and a excellence certificate for getting 12th rank in the state respectively. For showing good performance by the students in the exam our school was awarded with “Golden School Award” and our Headmistress Sr. Dr. Tressilla Pinto was awarded with “Best Principal Award”. Teacher Incahrge Mr. Vishwanath Pai was awarded with “Active Teacher Award”.
Our Students participated in many examinations such as CAP India, India Talent Search, Goa Talent Search Examination and Copywriting Competitions, Science Talent Search Examination, CBCI etc. and bagged many prices under Kalabharati competition our school was awarded as "Active School Award".
Music classes are held for three days in the school. With the help Department of Art and Culture Goa our school actively participated in the Taluka level cultural talent search event organized by Directorate of Art and Culture Govt. of Goa, in events such as Keyboard, Drum, Vocal (Western), Guitar, Essay, Elocation, Monologue, etc. Master Veloyd D’souza of Std IX won the 1st prize in the event Drum display while Master Placilo got the second prize in the same event. Master Steve Coutinho bagged the 3rd prize in the event Guitar. Master Veloyd D’souza got an opportunity to participate in the State level competition.
Cleanliness drive : ( Go green, best clean class of the week, cleaning the school campus. Rally on ‘No plastic’) was held.
Swachch Bharat Pakwada week was celebrated in the school, on this occasion we arranged a rally from our school to the nearby place by students giving slogans on Swatchata and also vector borne diseases. Under Road Safety week was celebrated in the month of February. Various competitions such as Quiz, Debate competitions were arranged.There are various club's in school which help the students to bring out their talents.
Earth Week was celebrated in the school. During the Assembly each class presented various activities on the notice board.
World Environment Day 2019 was celebrated with the theme “To avoid use of plastic”.
Fire safety drills are conducted in the schools by demonstrating various techniques of fire safety and through mock drills.
PTA and Alumini is active and co-operative at all times.
We mourn the demise of our beloved sir Alex Rebello,due to cardiac arrest at the age of 58 on 8th September 2019. He had served our school for 30 years.
| Address |
St Sebastian’s High School, Loliem Canacona Goa- 403728 |
| Telephone No | 0832 2640155 Mob :7768921202 |
| E-mail ID | |
| Year of Establishment | 1962 |
| Status | KG to X |
| Aided/Unaided | Aided |
| Affiliated to | Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, Alto - Betim |
| Manager | Sr Biana Fernandes BS |
| Headmistress | Sr Jenifer Fernandes BS |
Sr Biana Fernandes BS
Manager
Sr Jenifer Fernandes BS
Headmistress
School Building
Staff
Std X -Outgoing Batch
