Adani Group acquires control of Mount Carmel School

Since September, the secondary school, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2022, has been in the hands of the foundation linked to the Indian tycoon. The sisters explain the decision by emphasizing the different values ​​and objectives compared to a group whose priority is “business interests.” That is why they ask that the inscription “Mount Carmel” be removed from the façade.

Delhi () – A decision that has caused a deep shock and sparked fierce institutional and confessional controversy, and which seems destined to continue in the coming weeks although the margins for intervention are limited. At the center of the controversy is the government measure that transferred the management and control of the Mount Carmel Convent School of Ghugus, a secondary school in the Chandrapur district, in the state of Maharashtra, to the Adani Foundation, linked to the tycoon Gautan Adani, businessman very close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at the head of a controversial empire with interests ranging from large infrastructure to the energy industry and the defense sector.

Critics and detractors of the decision adopted by a measure dated September 27 wonder why – after more than 50 years in which this school was entrusted to the nuns of the Congregation of the Mother of Carmel – it has now been hastily handed over management to an entity linked to an industrial giant. The recurring and unresolved question is who would have made the proposal for the change and what would be the reasons for such a decision.

The former director of the institute, Sister Leena, confirms that she left the school on September 1, after its sale to the Adani group, because the nuns did not want to work under the directives of the Indian tycoon, whose “priority is commercial interests”, since then not the educational ones. Two “totally different” policies led the nuns to leave, but not before urging the new ownership to remove the “Mount Carmel” sign, because they are no longer part of an institution with nearly 2,000 students and celebrating their annual weddings. gold in 2022.

In recent days, the Adani Foundation – which now runs and controls the college – has stated that the move of the institute, founded on the initiative of Acc Limited (a local Indian cement manufacturer, now part of the Adani Group), is related to the decision of the nuns to “cease” in management. Consequently, in June 2023 Acc Ltd asked the Adani Foundation, a non-profit organization, to take charge. The transfer process, the note concludes, “complied with all required protocols and approvals” issued by central and local government agencies.

In an attempt to legitimize the transfer, those responsible for the Adani Foundation also affirm that “the school has a great tradition, but at the same time it desperately needs an improvement in infrastructure”, that senior management would have already started with “key improvements” . These include infrastructure development, better teacher training and student support services. And work is also being done “to achieve Nabet accreditation in 2025.”

Words that are not enough, nor do they serve, to extinguish the controversy. To , Sister Grace Therese, superior general of the Congregation of the Mother of Carmel (Cms), a Syro-Malabar religious congregation, points out that the school has been self-financing until now and has offered teaching from first to twelfth grade. «Since the beginning of our congregation, our educational apostolate – continues the nun – has been of vital importance. Especially girls’ education in most rural areas and small towns as well as urban areas. “Our schools emphasize values ​​and our zeal for the educational apostolate continues.”

In a post on Adani. After transferring land and industries to Adani, the government is now giving away schools. “It is a clear indication that the government is selling off Maharashtra.” The leader of the opposition, Uddhav Thackeray, also spoke out on the issue: “I thought,” he said, “that Adani’s influence was limited to Bombay, but now I find out that they have given him the Mount Carmel school.” Can Adani be considered a national figure worthy of leading our schools?