Mama School’s 90th

"Ardeshir (Mama) has identified himself with numerous projects launched for the general improvement of the city, and one of his first notable public acts was to manifest his interest in the subject of female education by an expenditure of Rs 3,00,000 for the erection of a school for girls in Karachi,” notes The Imperial Gazetteer 1920.

Quoted by Khan Bahadur Ardeshir Mama’s great-grandson Jubin Noshir Mama in an article in Hamazor (Issue 1, 2008) celebrating the 90th anniversary of The Mama Parsi Girls’ Secondary School in Karachi, Pakistan, The Gazetteer goes on to list the umpteen contributions of "the same large-hearted citizen, always ready to lend a helping hand in deserving cases.”

Ardeshir Mama;

A ‘Mehfil-e-Milad’ was organized for the Muslim staff and students of the school, while the Parsis including chairperson of the School, Dr Banoo Mama, the principal, Zarine Mavalvala, the members of the School’s managing committee, the Parsi staff and students attended a jashan on April 1, 2008 to celebrate the founding of the school on that day 90 years ago. The guests included Dinoo Mistry, ex-principal of the B. V. S. (Bai Virbaiji Sopa­rivala) Parsi Sch­ool, hotelier and president of the Karachi Parsi Anju­man Byram Avari, renowned columnist Ardeshir Cowasjee and Ker­meen Parakh, principal of The B. V. S. Parsi School. Members of the Parsi Banu Mandal Society were also present to witness the celebrations notes an entry from The News on Interface.edu.pk. A documentary on the institution’s achievements was shown to everyone present at the celebrations. Gifts were given to every student, and the guests were served with refreshments.

Clockwise from above left: Nawrojee Pochaji, Nadirshaw Dinshaw and facets of the Mama School;

Through the preceding months the School’s alumni had been busy requesting old photographs, recipes, names and contacts for the alumni directory. An exhibition spanning October 9 to 12, 2008 in Karachi involved academic subjects and co-curricular activities according to the announcement in Hamazor. Simultaneously a grand reunion was on the cards October 10 to 12, 2008 at Houston, with the main event on the 11th. December 13 and 14, 2008 have been reserved for a concert in the home town.

Since most Zoroastrian girls in Karachi were educated at the Mama School and the boys at the B. V. S. School not to speak of innumerable Muslims after the founding of Pakistan, the genesis of the Zoroastrian involvement in primary and secondary education in that city makes for interesting reading. Jubin’s article notes that within 10 years of the establishment of the tower of silence in 1847 and the Hirjikaka Dare Meher in 1848 — the top Zoroastrian priorities in every settlement — the Parsi Balak Shala to impart religious education and a knowledge of Gujarati to Parsi children was established "by the community for the community through public subscription.” From this embryo developed the two schools whose stamp has been carried all over the world by waves of Zoroastrian migration.

Jamshed Mehta ;

When Shahpurji Hormusji Soparivala donated his home to the community in 1870 to house a co-educational vernacular school in memory of his late wife Virbaiji, the Balak Shala was rehoused and renamed the Parsi Virbaiji School.

The liberal concepts of the late 19th century included a concerted effort for female education and Karachi’s own Nawrojee Nusserwanjee Pochaji "bequeathed a considerable sum to the community for the express purpose of female education.” In 1903 Edulji Dinshaw proposed the establishment of a high school for Parsi girls and in 1911 offered Rs 50,000 for the project. Legal and pecuniary difficulties however dogged the project until 1918 when the legendary Jamshed Nusserwanji Mehta (in whose memory the Pakistan government issued a stamp many years ago) brought together philanthropists Ardeshir Mama, Khan Bahadur Nusserwanji Mehta, sole trustee of Pochaji’s estate and Nadir­shaw, son of Edulji Dinshaw who had passed away in 1914. With the guidance provided by Khan Bahadur Sheriarji Contractor, deputy director of public instruction in Bombay Presidency which in those days included Karachi, the project fructified, the School being named after the parents of its largest donor — Hormusjee and Homlibai Mama — states Jubin.

L to R: Banoo Mama and Zarine Mavalvala.

Cowashah Ankle­saria was the first principal for a year and returned to the post for eight years more after Mary Board­man who "nurtured the nascent institution, setting standards for the future,” retired in 1932. Thereafter there was enough "home-grown talent” to set benchmarks of vision, service and dedication: Iris Thompson, Goola Shroff and Mani Contractor — Sheriarji’s daughter — on whose demise on February 27, 2008 her 55 years of unswerving dedication to the School has been recognized in Hamazor. Mavalvala, the current principal is an alumus of the school and has been a teacher there since 1963 except for a break of five years in the 1980s.

In 1943 students from other communities began to be admitted and in 1947, at the behest of Mohamed Ali Jinnah "the Mama School gave up its parochial status and admitted pupils purely on merit irrespective of religious or communal background, a practice that continues today,” records Jubin.