Ahmedabad’s Jewish population is about 125, but the contribution of Bene Israel families in establishing some of the city’s first English medium schools can never be ignored. Even today, schools started in the 1950s and ’60s by the city’s Jews continue to be among the most prestigious institutions.
The Bene Israel are a group of Jewish agriculturalists from Alibaug and coastal Konkan, who migrated to Mumbai and nearby cities in the 1700s and 1800s in search of prosperity. The first Bene Israel migrants to Ahmedabad in the mid-1800s were personnel of the civil services, military and railway, and doctors and traders. Most of them lived in the walled city of Ahmedabad, in the area called Khamasa, where they built the Magen Abraham Synagogue in 1934, in memory of Dr Abraham Benjamin Erulkar, who had opened a prayer room for the community in his house in the 1840s and ’50s. As Ahmedabad’s industry prospered and the city became known as the Manchester of India because of its textile mills in the 1950s, the Bene Israel community began to grow, and the population was over 2,000 at one time. The community included well-known citizens like Padmashri Reuben David, who masterminded Ahmedabad’s zoological park, Padmashri Dr Esther Solomon, a notable Sanskrit scholar, Dr Joseph Benjamin, former mayor of Ahmedabad, and many doctors, lawyers, engineers, bankers and academicians.
Says Esther David, the author of historical Indian Jewish novels, “It was in the 1950s that Bene Israel families realised the potential of English medium education in Ahmedabad. My mother, Sarah, was a school teacher in Prakash, one of the English medium schools in the walled city. The best such school at the time was St Xaviers’ School in Mirzapur, but it was the Bene Israel schools started in areas like Maninagar and Shahpur, near the industrial estates of the city, that gained a reputation for being truly secular in their treatment of students. These schools rapidly became popular with Hindus, Jains, Muslims and Sikhs of eastern Ahmedabad. One of the first Bene Israeli schools, called Infants High School, started in the 1950s by Rachel and Samson Benjamin, no longer exists, but most of the schools opened subsequently–Best, Nelson, Little Flower, Ruebs and Classical, have expanded over the years.”
Recalls Queenie Best, who heads Best High School, “I came to Ahmedabad after my marriage to husband Ralph in 1957, and started a small classroom at our house in Maninagar a year later. As I had no background in pedagogy at the time, we charged just Rs 6 per child and enrolled a few children. The concept caught on, and we had 90 children in 1959, and 150 by 1960. It was an enjoyable time—I was a pianist, my husband a violinist, and we played music for the children, and sang with them.” While running this school, Best went onto qualify as a teacher with a BEd degree. “The school is now run by my sons, Amiel and Shalosh, and daughter-in-law, Nili and Esther, and has a capacity of 4,000 students. We have consistently produced high rankers in the Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Boards, engineers, doctors, and other professionals,’’ she explains proudly, adding, “The main reason why we have been able to sustain the brand is that we have kept pace with the times, improving the facilities at the school from time to time. For instance, we now have computers in every classroom, and CCTV that keeps a watch on school activities.”
Austin Haeems, director of Nelson International School, agrees that the reason for the success of Bene Israeli schools in Ahmedabad is their adaptability to new trends. “The Nelson group of schools was started in Gujarat by my grandfather, Sam Minashe Haeems, in the early 1960s. Today, there are three schools of the group which are run in Ahmedabad by different members of my family,” he says, adding, “One of these is the Nelson International School, the first international curriculum school in eastern Ahmedabad, and still the only one in the densely-populated and cosmopolitan Maninagar area. We have an astronomy club and wide-ranging modern facilities. The school has wireless connectivity, so computers can be set up in any classroom or activity rooms.” About 1,000 students from the school appear for the state board exams and around 150 for the Cambridge certified International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) system. Ian Scott, head of the school, has considerable experience working in IGCSE schools, having worked in Washington, Taiwan and Cyprus.
While most of the Bene Israel-family-promoted schools are located in the eastern part of the city, Little Flower has successfully made it mark in the affluent and relatively modern western neighbourhoods of Ahmedabad. This school was started in 1964 by Samson Samuel, a civil services officer from Mumbai, and his wife Sophie, in a small, low-rise building, and now covers two buildings in the Paldi area of Ahmedabad. “Even today, Samson Sameul who is in his 90s, is very active in running the school, with his daughter Ivon,” says Irene, the school supervisor, adding, “They are upholding the tradition of quality education for which the Bene Israel families have become known in Ahmedabad.”
