The late Indian Scientist and President Abdul Kalam had said that when learning is purposeful, creativity blossoms; when creativity blossoms, thinking emanates; when thinking emanates, knowledge is fully lit, and knowledge makes you great. This was the goal of establishing SFS School at Alangayam which is a small multicultural town situated at the foot of Jawathi Hills and Elgri Hills. It is a lovely town surrounded by mountain slopes and fertile green landscapes with pleasant climate. Alangayam is a substation of Vaniyambadi parish, and there were only a few mobile teachers’ families settled here in 1985. The Church of Our Lady of Vailankanni and the priest’s residence adjacent to the Church were built by Fr. George Puraidam, MSFS when he was the parish priest. The church was blessed by Most Rev. Dr. Michael Augustine the bishop of Vellore and inaugurated by Fr. Midathada Mariadas on 21 May 1988, and the presbytery was inaugurated and blessed on 21 May 1989. Fr. George Puraidam, MSFS as the parish priest foresaw the possibility of development in this little town and so he understood the need for starting a school in this area. Therefore, with the permission from the provincial, he initiated the process and planted the seed for establishing the SFS (St. Francis de Sales) Matriculation Higher Secondary School at Alangayam on 20 June 1988. Thus, Fr. George Puraidom, MSFS along with Fr. Joseph Francis Britto, MSFS pioneered the project and worked tenaciously in starting the SFS school. He ventured this project as a practical way of extending our ministry of evangelization from Vaniyambadi to Alangayam town. This was a graceful moment of jubilation for the MSFS missionaries as it was the first school started in Tamilnadu, and it was first named Gnanodaya Vidyalaya.
As the school building was not yet ready, the school was functioning initially in the church. Later, the first block of Gnanodya Vidhyalaya was built in 1989 on Gollar Street with the support of the province, where the present school is located. Fr. George Puraidam, MSFS was the first Correspondentand Mrs. Agnes Thomas was the first teacher. In the beginning, there were only 20 students in the school. As years passed, the strength of the school increased, and a new block was built when Fr. A. Dharmaraj was the principal. Now after 36 years, the school has the strength of 1040 students with 49 teaching staff and 9 non- teaching staff as of 2024. Thus, SFS School has grown slowly and steadily through the years. Now there are three blocks of infrastructure and convenient restrooms for the schoolchildren. Moreover, as there was no presbytery in the school, Fr. Ignacimuthu, MSFS as the principal stayed in the parish residence in Alangayam and later he initiated the construction of the priest’s residence in the school campus itself, and the new house was inaugurated and blessed by. Fr. Mani Panthalani, MSFS on 05 July 2002. Moreover, people in Alangayam and the surrounding villages are predominantly farmers, and people get settled here because of its natural beauty and a good climate. Many doctors and lawyers from this area had their crawling experience of schooling as toddlers at SFS School, Alangayam, and now they have become successful in life, getting employed in different parts of the world as engineers and doctors.
Academic Performance and Co-curricular Activities
Our students have demonstrated outstanding academic performance and many of them achieved top ranks and honors in their respective classes and exams, especially in the class of 10 and 12 public examinations, securing 100% result and scoring high marks. Our dedicated staff members provided unwavering support and guidance, nurturing the intellectual curiosity and growth of our students, who are given personal attention and care by way of teaching the main subjects with clarity. Special attention is given to prepare diligently and conduct special tests, achievement tests, and various terminal exams periodically, focused on imparting Computer knowledge, General Knowledge, Hindi, Moral Science and Drawing.
Developments undertaken at various times
There is a well-established infrastructure in the school built with the support of our SE province, and its elegant physical structure consists of three blocks, namelt, Silver Jubilee Block, Mermier Block and SFS Block with 45 classrooms, 2 office rooms, 2 staff rooms, 2 computer rooms, one library, 3 Science Laboratories, and one Games Room. There are well-maintained toilet blocks and attractive kid’s garden with spacious playground. The school building was painted in 2024 with fresh multiple colors, which gives grand appearance to the school. Thus,our SFS school standing as a peakon of hope, spreading intellectual light in this small town offers propitious opportunity for the students to deepen their learning, develop their talents and become responsible citizens in society. Besides academic performance, the students are trained in character formation, personality development, and love for the nation and nature. A special calligraphy and cursive handwriting competition was organized at the very outset and prizes with certificates were given to all the classes respectively. To foster team spirit and exhibit their talents, all the classes were divided into four groups, namely Adularia, Cineraria, Laminaria and Luminaria and Captain and Vice-Captain for each group were elected respectively. We introduced notice board-talent exploration to foster in the students a sense of creativity and innovation.
District level volleyball and kabbadi tournaments were organized at SFS School for the first time on July 22, 2023. More than twenty-five schools participated in the event, and the winners were awarded certificates and cash awards. We were proud to honor our SFS Girls Kabaddi team who won the first prize in the competition. We also organized the state-level chess competition along with Kings Hunt Chess Academy in Tirupattur and most of our students bagged top level prizes in the event. Moreover, our SFS school celebrated in 2013 the Silver Jubilee of its establishment with gaiety and gratitude under the leadership of Fr. A. Michael, MSFS who was the principal at that time. On that auspicious occasion of honoring the jubilee year, Fr. A. Michael, MSFS made efforts and constructed a grand entrance gate at the school. Moreover, it was a grace-filled moment of celebrating and recognizing the marvelous blessings of God through our MSFS missionaries in rendering dedicated service to educate thousands of students from the remote villages. Furthermore, it was a great joy for the whole staff and students of SFS school to welcome Fr. Abraham Vettuvelil MSFS, our Superior General on October 19, 2023, who blessed and opened the renovated Kid’s Park in our school campus. We introduced advanced smart board panels from the academic year 2024 for the use of the students to create in them a passion for learning. As there was increase in the enrollment of students and transport facilities were the urgent need of the time, purchasing a new school bus was a dream and the project was finally realized with the help of the province. All the fathers and the staff members serving the school for all these years made valuable contributions in the development of the school in its present stature of success and glory in imparting quality education.
Succession of Principals / Superiors
1. Fr. Joseph Francis Britto, MSFS 1990 – 1991
2. Fr. Conrad Sebastian, MSFS 1991 – 1992
3. Fr. A. Arulanandam, MSFS 1992 – 1993
4. Fr. A. Dharmaraj, MSFS 1993 – 1996
5. Fr. K. Ignaci Muthu, MSFS 1996 – 2001
6. Fr. A. Arockiasamy, MSFS 2001 – 2004 – superior
7. Fr. R. Mathias, MSFS 2004 – 2005 – superior
8. Fr. S. Alexander, MSFS 2005 – 2007 – superior
9. Fr. A. Arul Francis, MSFS 2007 – 2011 – superior
10. Fr. A. Michael, MSFS 2011 – 2014 – superior
11. Fr. S. Britto, MSFS 2014 – 2014
12. Fr. A. Innaci Muthu, MSFS 2014 – 2018 – superior
13. Fr. S. Jerry Louis, MSFS 2018 – 2019
14. Fr. D. Amirtharajan, MSFS 2019 – 2025 – superior
15. Fr. M. Rayappan, MSFS 2025 –
Succession of Procurators: Fr. S. Edward Xavier, MSFS, Fr. M. Victor, MSFS, Fr. S. Wilson Fernando, MSFS, Fr. AJR Benedict, MSFS, Fr. S. Eldin Bernard, MSFS, Fr. P. Aloysius, MSFS, Fr. P. Anantaraj, MSFS, Fr. A. Nayaga Seelan, MSFS, Fr. X. George Naveen, MSFS, Fr. S. Antony, MSFS (jr), (Superior), Fr. L. Jayaraj, MSFS, Fr. A. Jayakumar, MSFS, Fr. M. Simon Prabhu, MSFS, Fr. P. Stephen, MSFS (Superior)
Succession of Correspondents: Fr. L. Arul Sundaram, MSFS, Fr. F. Emmanuel, MSFS (Superior), Fr. L. Sahaya BBaskar, MSFS Fr. A. Dharmaraj, MSFS (Superior), Fr. V. Vedharaj, MSFS, Fr. D. Johnson Sagayaraj, MSFS, Fr. S. Antony (Tony), MSFS,
