A little town in Manipur known as Moirang is well known as the cultural capital of Manipur. The Meitei community which is the dominant group lives around Loktak Lake. The people of the famous Thangjing Temple area were deprived of a Catholic institution. Some people of this beautiful land saw the work of Catholic missionaries in other parts of Manipur. They dreamt of having a Catholic school in Moirang itself. The people under the leadership of Shri. P Sharathchandra, IAS, requested the then Archbishop of Manipur, Rev. Dr. Joseph Mittathany, DD, to start a Catholic school in Moirang. The Archbishop accepted the proposal and was looking for a group of priests to venture into this part of Manipur. Later, when the Archbishop met Shri. P. Sharathchandra, IAS, again he assured that he would send a group of Catholic priests who are good educationists. This is how the Jesuits landed in Moirang.
For the Jesuits it was an important mission for two reasons. The place is rich in culture and tradition. So the Jesuits felt that we could do more to enrich the culture and preserve its richness. Secondly, it was also an opportunity for inter religious dialogue. The Jesuits under the leadership of Rev. Fr. Shenoy, along with the Bishnupur Catechist Sir. Longinus, and the MSI sisters visited the place and ventured into this area with the guidance of the people of Moirang led by Shri. P Sharathchandra, IAS.
The early Jesuits had a great vision for this land. So they acquired land keeping the future in mind. They started the school in the year 1991 and named it after the great Jesuit missionary to India, St. Francis Xavier. Being a Catholic mission it attracted the students around and kept on growing steadily. The school came under the Jesuit parish in Bishnupur. The first batch of students of this school couldn’t finish class 10 in the same school as it was not upgraded at that time. The second batch became the first batch of the school to appear for board exam in the year 2001. Thereafter the school saw steady growth with the support of the people of Moirang.
St Xavier’s school has completed 25 years of existence. As a gift for its steady progress and the vision of the early leaders of the locality, the school was upgraded to Higher Secondary in the year 2018. This was the second dream of the early visionaries of the school. They dreamt big and wanted this campus to grow into an education hub in Moirang area. As it strives towards that goal it needs to take along the Jesuit ideals and charism.