Nuns give up running school in Maharashtra after Adani takeover
"We did not want to work under Adani Group… Their policy and our policy are totally different,” the former principal of the school reportedly said
A group of nuns have reportedly given up running a reputable high school in Maharashtra after five long decades as the Adani Group took control of the institution.
The development took place after the Adani Foundation took over the management of the Mount Carmel Convent Senior Secondary School in Cement Nagar in Chandrapur district.
ACC school run by nuns
The foundation is the charity arm of billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani, the second richest Indian.
The Congregation of the Mother of Carmel (CMC) had run the school since 1972. The school was built by the Associated Cement Co (ACC) as part of its corporate social responsibility.
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Nuns versus Adani Group
“We moved out of the school on September 1 after handing it over to Adani Group,” Sister Leena, the school's former principal, told UCA News.
"We did not want to work under Adani Group, which has commercial interests as their priority. Their policy and our policy are totally different, so we have moved out,” she said.
Adani Group acquires school
The Adani Group took over the school after acquiring ACC from the Switzerland-based Holcim in 2022.
The CMC has urged the Adani Group to remove "Mount Carmel" from the school’s name since its nuns are no longer involved in the management.
The congregation started the school at the invitation of ACC, "who wholeheartedly supported our mission for good education of children in the remote (Maharashtra) district", Leena said.
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Interference alleged in school
Bishop Ephrem Nariculam of Chanda, who oversaw the school, told UCA News that the nuns “decided to leave the school because of some interference in the management from the Adani group”.
The school has some 2,000 students, both boys and girls.
Adani Group said the transfer of the school “owned by ACC Ltd was initiated as per the wishes and decisions of the Carmel Education Society to discontinue managing the school”.