Fr. William Dwyer (1930 - )

(Principal Jun 1978 – Dec 1984)

          Fr. Dwyer’s first contact with the school was from the summer of 1959 to the summer of 1960 when he was in charge of the junior dormitory and taught English to the Senior Cambridge class.

          When he returned to take up the post of Principal seventeen years later he found a new style school. The boarding facilities had been discontinued. Preparatory Class and Standard One had been opened. Dormitories had been converted into classrooms. The double storied classroom building had a third storey. St Robert’s High School had come into the campus and was to happily function there for almost twenty years.

          During Fr Dwyer’s tenure, with the admissions being all day scholars, the school enrolment doubled and by 1985 was around 1500. To take care of the administration of the junior section the Franciscan Clarist Sisters were invited to join the staff in 1980 and Sisters of the Congregation of the Mother of Carmel in 1982. The school administration was reorganized to have three Vice-Principals, one for the junior section, one for the middle section, and one for the seniors.

          Another change the school underwent under Fr Dwyer was the switch from the Indian School Certificate (the successor to the Cambridge Overseas School Certificate) to the CBSE system, a step taken after prolonged consultation with parents and teachers.

          With his background of Hindi studies in Indian universities, Fr Dwyer, suggested that that in the school crest the Latin motto , ‘In Veritate et Caritate’ could be made more intelligible, Latin being no longer understood by any except some senior Jesuits. The search for an inculturated motto resulted in parhit dharm fromTulsidas’ Ramcharitmanas, which says substantially the same as the Latin motto and has the advantage of being from a revered Indian text .