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KM George the old students of the cms highschool kottayam K M George is an educationist who worked in India, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea for over three decades. Prior to his overseas services, he had worked as Secretary of YMCA Bombay and Youth Secretary for Church of India, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon (C I P B C) K M George was born on March 6, 1926 as the ninth child and fifth son of K A Mathai and Saramma Mathai in a family of twelve children. He had his primary and Middle School education in the local schools – CMS Primary School and CMS English Middle School. For his High School he went to CMS College High School, Kottayam (about 30 km from Punnaveli). CMS College High School is a unique institution of being ‘Mother of English Education in Kerala’ started as early as 1816. He completed his high school education in 1942. He had to take a break from continuing his college education for family reasons. During this period he enrolled in a commercial institution at Mallappally and studied type writing, short hand and book-keeping. The following year he joined Intermediate classes at C M S College, Kottayam and completed it in 1945. There were no degree classes at CMS College then. In 1946 he joined Madras Christian College, Tamabaram. Madras. Madras Christian College was considered as one of the top colleges in the country and to study there was a great privilege. Rightly or wrongly the populace used to compare the products of the three main colleges in Madras -, Pachayapas, Loyola and Christian – as ‘Rowdies of Pachayapas’, ‘Slaves of Loyola’ and ‘Gentlemen of Christian’ as the last group stood a class apart as urbane individuals from the products of other colleges of the city. This exaggerated claim should be taken with a ‘pinch of salt’ as in any case, not all who passed through the portals of Tambaram as polished products to become of their own volition, gentlemen. There are many who did not prove to be equal to the challenges. He took Mathematics as his main subject, and Physics and Astronomy as subsidiary subjects. He graduated from the college in 1948. Apart from his academic pursuit he took an active role in the college, religious, social, literary and cultural activities. He took part in college sports and games activities and he represented the college in the university elocution contest. He was a member of the Youth Christian Council of India which played a vital role in negotiations between the domestic staff ((who went on strike) and the management in solving the crisis. In 1947 he attended the Indian S C M triennial conference held at Tamabaram as a student volunteer. Academic Qualification Bachelor of Arts Degree: Madras Christian College, Tambaram, Chennai Master of Arts Degree: Wilson College, Mumbai Teacher’s Diploma: St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai Bachelor of Education: Meston Training College, Chennai Doctorate of Philosophy Columbia Pacific University, State of Columbia, USA Employment; Lawrence School Mount Abu After graduation from Madras he went to Bombay in early February 1949 where his elder brother K M Mathai was a senior executive in a reputed institution. After about three weeks George happened to meet an Anglo-Indian teacher who entered into conversation with him; that gentleman took a fancy on George mainly because of his Madras Christian College education and suggested that he met the Principal of Lawrence School Mount Abu who happened to visit Bombay for teacher recruitment. When George met the Principal the following day at the Bombay Anglican Cathedral office he offered George the post of Mathematics teacher at Lawrence School Mount Abu.in Rajasthan Mount Abu is about 30km from Abu Road Railway station. Rajastan is one of the border states of India sharing India’s frontier with Pakistan on the west and northwest. Punjab bounds it on the north, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh on the northeast and east, Madya Pradesh on the south and southeast, and Gujarat on the southwest. Mount Abu is about 30km from Abu Road Railway station and one could only travel to the hill station by bus. It is about 2000 metres above sea level and the climate is very pleasant, cool most of the period. There is a beautiful lake and an exquisite Jain Temple (probably the best in architecture and beauty) built some time in the 11th century. The central marble arch in the temple is one of the exquisite architecture and large number numbers of tourist flock to the temple to enjoy its beauty. There is plenty of opportunities for horse ride and plenty of ‘walks’. The school is an old exclusive residential school for children of Europeans and children of the royal families in North India. He taught there for two years after which the school had to be closed and it was eventually taken over by the Government of India as Police Training College. Expansion of horizon: YMCA work After a short holiday in Kerala he returned to Bombay in Mid 1953 and obtained a job as assistant secretary of Byculla YMCA and warden of a men’s hostel; later became branch secretary of Byculla Branch YMCA. Life and work in Bombay through the YMCA opened up a number of new avenues of service. YMCA, being a meeting place of a large number of people from different fields of activities he had the good fortune to meet with a large number of such people.. One such organisation was the Bombay City Christian Council, and especially Bombay City Christian Youth Council. The membership of Council was drawn from all major Protestant denominations. He was privileged to be the Chairman of the Bombay City Christian Youth Council for a period of three years. The Council used to hold regular meetings to plan various actions pertaining to Christian youth work in the city. With the expansion of WCC into various countries, a new impetus seemed to have emerged in the 1950s. Bombay also experienced such a surge in Bombay. Many people started talking of establishing such ecumenical groups on regional levels. Bombay City Christian Council and Bombay City Youth Christian Council were formed out of such a desire. In October 1953, no less than a hundred Christian men and women from many parts of Western India have assembled at the hill station (Matheran) “to listen to the inner voice of Christ” and discuss means of propagating Christ’s message among the youth. The Western India Christian Conference of Youth was the follow-up of the Third World Conference of Christian Youth held in 1952 at Kottayam and the primary purpose was to pass on the message of Kottayam Conference “Christ, the answer”. He was privileged to be the Organising Secretary of the Conference. The main outcome of the conference was a “Call for free Indian Church”. The delegates felt that to accept help from Western churches by itself was not wrong but it should be done without sacrificing self-respect and individuality. At the plenary session of the conference it was decided to undertake a survey of the beggar problem in and around Victoria Terminus, Bombay very similar to the type of survey conducted by Hislop College Nagpur.. The survey wad described as “a preliminary for voluntary ameliorative action by the conference”. The same year, 1953 he was privileged to take an active role in an international Christian conference. The World Student Christian Federation was to hold its quadrennial conference in Bombay and the Secretary of the WSCF Rev. Harry Daniel invited him to be the Organising Secretary of the Conference at which over 120 delegates from about 50plus countries attended a ten-day conference at Narsrapur, near Pune. That was a wonderful experience in organising such an international conference. While working as Branch secretary of the YMCA he decided to study for Post graduate degree (Philiosphy), for which he registered in Wilson College as an external student and attended lectures at various colleges. In 1954 March he decided to take a year’s leave from the YMCA to complete his postgraduate study and applied for leave and sent the letter to the Board of Governors; but they refused. So he resigned his appointment with the YMCA. He sought alternative employment. As he had worked as a teacher in Lawrence School Mount Abu he was able to secure a teaching position at St. Peter’s High School Mazagon. It was a secondary school run by Cowley Fathers from Poona. He stayed in the school campus, and started teaching in June 1954. His teaching subjects were English and Mathematics. As he was already attending post graduate classes (attached to Wilson College) for MA Philosophy for two years he completed his post graduate degree and obtained MA degree (1955). He then decided to take evening classes for Teacher’s Diploma from St. Xavier’s College for which he obtained the Teaching Diploma certificate (T D) in 1956. A new development: Youth Leadership training in Sydney A new development took place during the middle of 1956. The Federal Committee of the CMS Australia offered a scholarship for a young man from Church of India Pakistan Burma and Ceylon to go to Sydney for a year to undergo special youth leadership training course. There were 16 CIPBC dioceses in India, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon and each diocese was asked to suggest a possible candidate for the scholarship. Rt. Rev. William Lash, the Bishop of Bombay Diocese recommended his name (representing Bombay Diocese) to the Metropolitan.. George was selected for the training programme in Sydney. He left for Sydney on February 7, 1957.The Federal Secretary of Church Missionary society met George at the airport and drove him to CMS Youth Hostel where he stated till he moved to Moore Theological College, New Town. The Diocesan Home Secretary, Diocesan Youth Secretary, and others met George and briefed him of various matters connected with his stay and study. He was to work in co-operation with these CMS officers in addition to the Federal Committee. Since the CMS had previously agreed (prior to departure from India) that they would sit down and chalk out a programme suitable for his study and work in Australia, it was decided that the best programme for him would be to live at Moore Theological College, New Town where he would attend classes for a certain number of subjects like Old Testament, New Testament, Doctrine and Christian Liturgy, and Worship, and the department would also organise meetings in various Anglican churches and groups, make arrangement to visit other states like Canberra, Brisbane, Melbourne and Hobart. George moved to Moore College where he started where he attended classes for subjects earlier decided upon. There was a Deaconess House (not far from Moore College) where deaconesses were trained to be sent to overseas countries in Asia and Africa. He was requested to be a visiting lecturer to give an hour of lecture every week (for about six months) to the deaconess on Indian church, CSI Church Union, various aspects of life and work in India especially in rural India and so on. The Youth Department also organised his visits to various churches (almost every Sunday with other theological students) where they used to assist. It was a regular feature of his work which certainly gave him a better understanding of the church activities of Sydney diocese. During long weekends he used to attend Beach Conferences in places like Paramatta and others.. The department also arranged visits to various social welfare agencies, Children’s Homes, Youth Remand Homes, Juvenile Courts, and Prisons and so on. Studying under Archdeacon T C Hammond Rev Dr. T C Hammond, an Irishman and a great scholar of Protestantism migrated to Australia in the first half of the 20th century during the Roman Catholic persecution In Sydney he devoted his scholarship to develop Protestantism. He was instrumental in starting Moore Theological College where he was Principal and later became Archdeacon of Sydney Diocese. He authored many Theological books. For many years he used to give radio broadcasts about Protestantism and used to hold radio debates with outstanding Roman Catholic scholars. George had the privilege of studying under Hammond’s feet (once a week for two hours) as Paul studied under Gamaliel. While George was in Bombay (prior to his departure to Australia) he had registered himself as a Ph.D student in the Philosophy department of Bombay University. The topic of his research was ‘Concept of according to St. Thomas Aquinas and Cardinal Newman’. Rev. Dr. Mendonza, the Head of the department of Philosophy o St. Xavier’s College, Bombay was his guide. George had to discontinue his studies as he went to Sydney. It was very kind of C MS Australia to request Dr. T C Hammond which he agreed. Church of India, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon Youth Work After the formation of the Church of South India, the Church of India, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon (CIPBC) had sixteen dioceses in North India, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon. Compared to the CSI Youth Work, the CIPBC had no or very little organised youth work. On K M’s return (early 1958) from his Youth Leadership Training in Australia he was appointed the Youth Secretary for CIPBC. Rt Rev. John Sadiq, Bishop of Nagpur (former Youth Secretary of the National Council of India) was the chairman. George was stationed at Nagpur and he was to organise Youth work, prepare constitution and study materials for Provincial, Diocesan and Parish committees. For this he travelled extensively to almost all important places in India such as Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Alahabad, Shilong, Indore, Jabalpur, Gwalior, and so on, and organised a few conferences on Diocesan and Provincial level In May 1959 he married Elizabeth John who had worked as lecturer of Mathematics in CMS College, Kottayam, Union Christian College, Alwaye as later as Head of Mathematics Department of Women’s Christian College Madras. The new role warranted a new situation that he worked as honorary secretary of Youth work at the same time taught in Bishop Cotton School Nagpur for three years. During his time in Nagpur he associated himself with the National Christian Council Youth Department; he attended an international work camp training programme organised by World Council of Churches in Hongkong; he also attended the Student Christian Movement’s Triennial conference in Lahore. He also organised a month’s youth work camp on behalf of WCC in Patpara (Gond district, Nagpur Diocese) where CSI Madhya Kerala Diocese had its mission field Although KM had Teacher’s Diploma in Education from Bombay he decided to take a Bachelor of Teaching Degree from Meston Training College Madras and Grace (his wife) at Mar Ivanios Training College, Trivandrum (1962-63) for which he took leave from Bishop Cotton School, Nagpur.
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