St. Xavier's High School, Himmatnagar was founded in 2002 by Father Rocky D'Silva on behalf of Rev. Archbishop Stanislaus Fernandes. The aim of opening this school was to provide quality education in English and Gujarati to the tribal children from the Sabarkantha and Aravalli areas.
The tribal population from these two areas are called Dungri Garasia Tribals. These people are farmers and live solely by cultivating a small piece of land that usually suffers from severe drought. These small settlements do not offer schooling. Schools are usually far away from these villages and poverty and lack of social awareness contribute to the economic and social backwardness of these tribal people.Missionaries and NGOs have endeavoured for many years to promote general development. In the last ten years, many children have benefited from higher education and their lives have been transformed. Literacy has increased, boys and girls are motivated and have gained confidence to compete with children from the cities for admission to higher education. Among the students who have graduated from the Himatnagar school, five have gone on to study medicine and become doctors and many of them have undertaken vocational training. Many girls take nursing courses after completing grade 12 and work in hospitals.
St Xavier's High School, Himmatnagar is the only institution in Sabarkantha and Aravalli that offers a science stream in secondary school. Children from tribal backgrounds are favoured for admission to the school. At present, 1444 students are being educated in Himmatnagar, out of which 225 are tribal students. 65 tribal girls live in the school hostel.
The school has 53 teachers and 15 administrative staff.
The school provides for the holistic development of the students, be it intellectually, emotionally, socially or spiritually, and children from very different walks of life are confronted with the school's motto ‘LOVE, WISDOM and PEACE’ on a daily basis.
Currently, under the leadership of Archbishop Thomas Macwan, St Xavier's School educates its students without any discrimination as it keeps its doors open to students of all castes and creeds. Most of them are Hindu; the school is not allowed to actively promote the Christian faith.
St Xavier's School inculcates in its students the human values of universal love and brotherhood, thus enabling even the poorest children to grow up in an atmosphere of peaceful co-existence into fully integrated individuals who are preparing to become instruments of social transformation.
