At the request of the Bishop of Dinajpur, Rt. Rev. Anselm, and as a response to the invitation of the PIME priests who were already working at Nagrakata (West Bengal) to begin a school for the girl children of the tea garden labourers, Sr. Giovannina Carnelli and Sr. Agatha Payappilly of the Sisters of Charity arrived in March 1949. In 1952 a new diocese- JALPAIGURI was carved out of the diocese of Dinajpur. Its first Bishop was a veteran missionary and PIME priest from Italy, Rt. Rev. Ambrose Galbiati. The Sisters of Charity at Nagrakata was the only religious congregation in the new diocese when it was established.
The community is situated on a small hillock at the border of Bhutan and West Bengal. The sisters were privileged to have visits from their immediate neighbours, like foxes, jackals, elephants, leopards and even tigers! No one could predict when a herd of elephants would turn up to cause havoc.
The sisters in the early days lived in utter poverty, lacking proper nourishment, accommodation and other necessities of life. They lived in the spirit of abnegation and poverty to work with the poor. To attend to the nature’s call the sisters had to go to the tea gardens very early in the morning with open umbrellas to hide themselves! Only in 1956 a small building was constructed for the convent. In the beginning their wooden house caught fire at night and the loss was immense. In spite of the hardships and difficulties, the sisters’ zeal never flagged and their faith stood firm like a rock.
In the same year of their arrival a hostel and a day school for girls were started, mainly for the children of the tea garden laborers. Most of the girls were Bhutanese. Response of the people towards education was just like any other remote villages of Bengal. The sisters had to go to the houses coaxing and encouraging the parents to send their daughters to school. They began the school in a mud house. Besides the formal education, the non-school going young girls of the locality were taught catechism, stitching and embroidery. The number of the students kept increasing. A spirit of sharing existed between the parish and the sisters’ community. The school soon got the recognition from the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education as a Junior High School in 1952. The mission of Nagrakata continued its growth rapidly in the education of girls. There were orphans in the hostel from different cultural backgrounds – Chinese, Nepalese, Adivasis and Biharis. The school has many records in its history. It was upgraded to a Higher Secondary School in 2005.
Finally the government requested the sisters to open a sister-wing of KASTURBA GANDHI BALIKA VIDYALAYA (KGBV) hostel to house 50 girl students hailing from the marginalised section of the district.. The whole enterprise is financed by the SARVA SHIKSHA MISSION ( SSM). This continues even now. The govt. wanted to increase the number and helped the sisters construct a building in addition.
The community was started on 12th Feb.1973, with Sr. Alphonsa Kattakkayathu, Sr. Ines Anthraper & Sr. Ezia Beck as community members. The English medium school was started at the request of Rt. Rev. James Toppo, the Bishop of Jalpaiguri, for a Christian presence among the locals of Jalpaiguri through education with special preference to the Adivasi community. With the tireless efforts of the sisters the school was upgraded to the High School level and then the school received its affiliation to the ISCE Board of New Delhi. The first batch appeared for the Board Examination in 1985 and the very good results boosted the following students to do better. The school was upgraded to I.C. S. E in 2004. The students are made aware of their responsibility to help the less privileged ones through various outreach programmes. Now most of the students have enriched their lives through this education and have been able to establish themselves in the society. Moral Values are stressed and this helps them in later life to be better citizens. Large number of poor children attending other schools have profited from the free evening classes since 1975.
The prison ministry was initiated in 2007 in association with Don Bosco Prison Ministry. One of the sisters makes regular visits to the prison. The staff and students reach out to the inmates of the correctional home of Jalpaiguri. HOLY CHILD HOME- home for the girl children of the prisoners of North Bengal, was established in 2011 at the request of the I.G of Correctional Services.
The sisters are also engaged in the pastoral ministry and facilitate the Small Christian Community (SCC), etc. ‘Members of the Spiritual Fraternity of Sts. Bartholomea and Vincenza’ was initiated in 2001 and at present there are 15 members.
They also reach out to the poor by visiting them in the villages and encourage their children to attend regular schools. Sisters have also extended their help to the National Open School Study Centre and Minor Seminary which belong to the diocese.
Our sisters rendered their service as formators of ‘Visitation Sisters of Mary’ founded by the late Bishop James Toppo, from 1998 to 2008.
