The contributions made by the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI), the first indigenous Catholic Congregation of India, in the educational field of Kerala were pioneering and revolutionary. St. Kuriakose Elias Chavara, the founder of the CMI Congregation, founded the first Catholic School of Kerala at Mannanam in1846. All the other CMI Monasteries also followed that movement. In the year 1864, St. Chavara, in his capacity as the Vicar General of the Syro-Malabar Church, ordered all the parishes to start schools adjacent to them. This historic order triggered the emergence of a galaxy of educational institutions all over the State. It also became the basis of the socio-economic development of the whole State.
The main aim of the entire educational endeavour of the Congregation is to bring about a social transformation with emphasis on an option for the poor coupled with a target of a moral reconstruction of society. Today, the CMIs run about 875 educational institutions which include Schools, Arts and Science Colleges, Autonomous Colleges, M.Ed and B.Ed Colleges , Engineering Colleges, Polytechnic Colleges, ITC Centres, Nursing Schools, Research Centres and a Medical College. Christ Nagar Group of Educational Institutions consists of six unaided, recognized schools, a Teachers Training College and a Kindergarten under different Boards of Education, namely, Christ Nagar Higher Secondary School situated at Kowdiar near Vellayambalam junction in Thiruvananthapuram, affiliated to the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, New Delhi, Christ Nagar English Higher Secondary School, situated adjacent to Christ Nagar Higher Secondary School, under the Kerala State Board of Education, Christ Nagar International School, affiliated to the University of Cambridge International Examinations, UK, Christ Nagar Central School, affiliated Central Board of Secondary Education, New Delhi, Christ Nagar Public School, Maranalloor, Trivandrum, Christ Nagar Kindergarten situated at Christ Nagar campus, Vellayambalam, Christ Nagar College of Education, Thiruvallam, affiliated to the Kerala University, Thiruvananthapuram and Christ Nagar Senior Secondary School, situated at Thiruvallom, in Thiruvananthapuram, affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education, New Delhi. All these institutions are owned and managed by the Fathers of the Catholic minority community and of the Catholic religious congregation, Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI). The Prior of Christ Hall is the Manager of Christ Nagar English Higher Secondary School, Christ Nagar Higher Secondary School, Christ Nagar Central School, Christ Nagar Public School, Christ Nagar International School and Christ Nagar Kindergarten. All these institutions are co-educational.
To raise good human beings with values encompassing benignancy and rational thought, with compassion and empathy, endurance and resilience,ethics and values havening with scientific temper.
I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE.
THE WORDS OF SUPREME GURU IS THE MOTTO OF THIS INSTITUTION.
- As a CMI educational institution, the school considers education as integral to the formation of the human person for the fulfilment of his/her individual and social responsibilities.
- The school aims at forming leaders who are intellectually competent, spiritually mature, morally upright, psychologically integrated, physically healthy and socially acceptable, who are open to growth and will champion the cause of justice, love, truth and peace.
- The school also aims at creating a just and human society where the dignity of the human person is respected, where unjust social structures are challenged, where our cultural heritage of ahimsa, religious harmony and national integration are upheld, where the poor and the downtrodden are specially taken care of.
- The school is open to all students irrespective of caste and creed; they are accepted and cherished as they are and are helped to grow in their cultural, social and religious tradition.
- The school expects students, parents and teachers to share the CMI vision of education and to co-operate with the school wholeheartedly.