The principal’s office of St Edmund’s College, Shillong. Telegraph picture

Shillong, June 13: If the only thing that is constant is change, June 1, 2011 will go down in the annals of history as a change of guard took place in one of the most prestigious institutions of the region, St Edmund’s College. For the first time, a non-clergyman was appointed as the principal.

Sylvanus Lamare, a doctorate in Khasi literature, was appointed as the successor toBrother E.V. Miranda, the last principal of St Edmund’s College, belonging to the Christian Brothers congregation of Blessed Edmund Rice.

Lamare, who has been a lecturer at the college for over 20 years now, was chosen from among two contenders, the other being E. Nongbri, a doctorate in economics, and a senior lecturer of the college.

St Edmund’s, the first college to be set up in Meghalaya, was established in 1924 by the Christian Brothers.

Since then, the principals of the college were selected from among the members of the Christian Brothers. However, on June 1, a historic transition took place as for the very first time a member from the laity was chosen to be the principal.

What is the reason for the transition, which, according to Lamare, came as a “shock” to many?

“Over the last 20 years, the Christian Brothers have been empowering members of the laity. We also discovered that the common people were ready to take up leadership roles in our institutions,” Br C. D’Abreu, rector of the college, said here today.

Starting with Goethals Memorial School, Kurseong, in West Bengal in 1990, St Edmund’s College has become another institution of the Christian Brothers to have a non-clergyman as the principal.

However, the Christian Brothers will continue to play a supportive role in the college. The principal and his three vice-principals will work in tandem with the Christian Brothers to further the cause of education as envisioned by Edmund Rice.

“We will be working as a team,” Br D’Abreu said. Principal Lamare echoed him.

Moreover, Br D’Abreu said, the Christian Brothers, with “limited manpower”, now want to venture into unchartered areas for the uplift of the people.

“Since 1985, we have been working in far flung areas of the country to empower the people. For instance, we are now carrying out our missionary work at Sangram in Arunachal Pradesh and Bongera in Jharkhand,” Br D’Abreu said.

“Another reason why we have appointed a non-clergy as principal is because we want to free the members of our congregation so that they can concentrate on other areas,” he said.

Lamare said his challenge as a principal was to make young people from the college employable in various vocations.