The Sisters of Jesus & Mary first went from Lyon to the South Asian Subcontinent in 1842, and opened a school in Agra. The Pakistani section of the congregation came into existence in 1955, eight years after Pakistan's independence on 14 August 1947. In 1856, the Congregation opened a school in Sialkot, which came within Pakistan at the time of partition, as also did the Convents of Lahore and Murree. Consequently, the history of the Religious of Jesus & Mary in Pakistan begins before the creation of Pakistan. Today, at the start of the third millennium there are eight Convents in Pakistan. Sialkot, Murree, Lahore, Mariakhel / Mianwali, Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore / Shadbagh, Toba Tek Singh Other foundations were made in Rawalpindi in 1881 and closed in 1893. Dalhousie in 1897 and closed in 1900. Islamabad in 1975 and closed in 1992. Since its conception the principal work of the Congregation is carried on by means of education for children from all social milieux. The latest venture in the development of CJM Pakistan was to open a centre at the Lahore Convent in 1999 for children with special needs, named Thevenet Centre after the Foundress; Saint Claudine Thevenet.
Organization
CJM is divided into four sections:
Nursery
Kindergarten Section
Junior Section
Senior Section
Education
Both the GCE Ordinary Level and Matriculation curricula are followed in the school. In 2011, the school celebrated its 135th year. Pakistan Post issued a commemorative on the occasion. On February 15, 2012, the President of Pakistan approved conferment of Sitara Quaid-e-Azam on Sister John Berchmans Conway, a former teacher of the school, for her services towards education and promoting interfaith harmony in Pakistan.
Houses
CJM has the following four student houses and colours:
Unity
Faith
Discipline
Service
Thevenet Centre
The Thevenet Centre for special children was opened on the 3rd of February 2000. At the opening ceremony Sister Marie Cecile Osborne RJM threw light on the reasons for opening the centre. She said:
"In the summer of 1998, one of our parents, Mrs. Nari Suleiman who has a son with special needs expressed the desire to Sr.Pilar that her child attend our school somehow, somewhere. At that stage we had no provision as such for children with special needs, but it was her request that gave birth to the idea of starting Thevenet Centre and for this we thank her. The Sisters of Jesus and Mary are proud to say that they have been educating the girls of Lahore since 1876, 135 years now. It seemed only right then, that at the dawn of the new millennium they should venture forth into a new branch of education and provide for children, not with disabilities, but with different abilities."
In 1956 an Urdu Medium School was opened to impart education to those of the area who could not afford any education at all. Starting from two rooms, the school has expanded, now offering classes from kindergarten to Matriculation educating many needy people. Till class 1 boys are also educated in Urdu medium section.
