Please don’t call it ‘convent’ if school is not one, says Karnataka government

The urge to be described as a convent-educated individual may be all encompassing. But the authorities have taken strong exception to the indiscreet use of the word ‘convent’ by many English schools in the state.

In a circular issued on Wednesday, the department of public instructions sought to explain the exact meaning of the word ‘convent’ to the schools and advised them to change their names.

“There are several schools in Karnataka which use the word ‘convent’ in their names. There are schools like Kalpataru Convent School, Sarvodaya Convent School, GK Convent School, Premier Convent School and so on. Many people are using the word ‘convent’ without knowing the exact meaning of the same,” BA Harish Gowda, commissioner, department of public instructions, pointed out in the circular.

“Many school managements are of the opinion that the word ‘convent’ refers to a modern school or an English medium school,” the circular said. Making it clear that the wrong use of an English word is not a punishable crime, the circular said, “We should think what people from other state or country would think of Karnataka if a common English word like ‘convent’ is used erroneously.”

“According to the Concise Oxford Dictionary, the word ‘convent’ means ‘religious community (usu. of women. cf. Monastery) living together under a discipline, a building occupied by this or a school conducted by members of a convent,” it said.

“Even in the Wikipedia, ‘convent’ is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters or nuns or building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church.

So widespread is the inappropriate deployment of the word ‘convent’ that it is not unusual to find a ‘Vivekananda Convent School’ or a ‘Veerabhadreshwara Convent School’ in parts of Karnataka. The change in name, however, is not mandatory or binding on schools, officials clarified.