pune even as the first strains of music at the inaugural mass herald the beginning of the 150th year celebrations of st annes high school on saturday the school authorities have no intentions of resting on their laurels on the anvil are plans to open a college offering a diploma in education ded go online with their massive collection of 14 lakh books and equip their classes with audiovisual equipment to make lessons that much more engaging besides the school management is looking at building a significant corpus fund which will meet the educational and nutritional requirements of its needy studentsbut then such efforts are nothing new points out sister diana provincial superior for the congregation and former principal of the school st annes chief strength has always been its ability to keep in sync with the times she saysestablished by the congregation of jesus and mary in 1860 the school was initially started as a home for european children orphaned while their parents were on government or commercial service in indiaat the suggestion of the bishop in 1865 the indian orphans were taken over by the daughters of the cross and st annes day school was opened for poor indian girls starting off with 66 children the school today provides education to over 2200since then it has gone from strength to strength but what is a constant is our commitment to give to society strong independent and empowered women says sister sylvia who has just taken over as the schools principal after all to educate a woman is to educate an entire familyabout their vision for the coming years sister diana says that the ded college is in keeping with the governments requirements to have a stipulated number of ded holders on the school staff since we have some unused constructions within the school premises they would be ideal for starting the college the college should feed both our needs as well as those of other schoolsanother massive investment would be the elibrary educational equipment has to keep pace with the times but thats going to be a very expensive prospect says sister sylvianirmala chandy the seniormost teacher at the school of 37 years standing believes that the audiovisual teaching aid is necessary to hold an esavvy generations interest this way even if the teacher is not in the class they will not waste their time she says after all both the approach and methodology of education have to be relevant to their time just as you cant dictate to todays children you need to keep in touch with the latest happenings in their world and this innate belief is reflected in every project taken up by the school be it a teachers training sessions or workshops to educate children and parents on the evils of child sexual abuse she stressesthe 150th year celebrations will also witness the recreation of the life and times of claudine thevenet the founder of the congregation of jesus and mary through the play