Nonagenarian Joaquim who celebrated his 97th birthday on 3rd March and late Leonora Gomes from Mumbai were blessed with four children Savio, Newton, Cynthia and Olavo. God called their first born Savio to leave everything in order to follow him, in the same way as the apostles. Savio was ordained as a priest on 22nd December 1990.
St. John Bosco said, “Education is a matter of the heart”. Following the footsteps of the Founder of the Congregation of the Salesians of Don Bosco, Fr. Savio Gomes, Principal of Don Bosco Higher Secondary School, Panjim has inscribed in GOLD letters on his heart that Education is better with Love and Compassion.
Fr. Savio Gomes provides a prime example of Love and Compassion by empowering each teacher and student at DBHSS Panjim in whatever choices they make. The term “Father” does not solely apply to biological relationship. The role played by Fr. Savio Gomes in the Don Bosco Higher Secondary School, Panjim family is incredibly important to the holistic well-being of his staff and students.
The philosophy of Don Bosco has taught Fr. Savio Gomes that in order to create happy students at DBHSS Panjim, the focus should be on evolving a team of happy teachers. Recognition at the workplace affects the happiness and productivity of the employees. To raise the happiness and productivity graph of his team, Fr. Savio launched the Bosco Innovator Awards. Ms. Joyce Pereira for creating a Digital Revolution during the pandemic, Ms. Selza Lopes for scripting and directing the bilingual movie Don Bosco Forever, Ms. Astrid Furtado and Mr. Remo Noronha for composing the tune and lyrics of the Don Bosco Higher Secondary School Anthem, Mr. Yeshwant Gaunkar for initiating the Inter Higher Secondary Cerebral Competition Brain Spark. Mr. Nilesh Pai for conducting Staff Training in Information and Communication Technology, Mr. Salvin Noronha for designing the DBHSS Panjim logo, Mr. Nicholas Fernandes for composing the song Viva Don Bosco at the 200th Birthday Celebration of Don Bosco and Mr. Samuel Fernandes for composing the Silver Jubilee Anthem of DBHSS are the recipients of the prestigious Bosco Innovator Awards.
A Father is the provider, protector and hero of the family. Fr. Savio Gomes together with his staff and the PTA has been instrumental in creating the iconic and state of art facilities like the Computer Science Laboratory, Digital Library to name a few for the welfare of his DBHSS Student Community. During moments of unbearable pain and rejection experienced by his students, Fr. Savio Gomes has offered his shoulder to cry on and has helped them to offer the hurt feelings to God. An idle brain is the devil’s workshop. But during the pandemic academic year 2020-2021, Fr. Savio Gomes and his team of dedicated teachers not only migrated instantly to the onlinelearning platform but also engaged the students productively by conducting twenty two different competitions through the digital platform. Film making competition: My Mollem, My Goa, Poster making competition: Goa and Coal were among the competitions held… Micromanaging, demonstrating, observing, giving feedback, injecting passion and creating confidence are the key ingredients of Fr. Savio‘s training and development template.
It is a great joy to see Fr. Savio, his teachers, administrative staff and the students always having a pleasant smile on their face. A charcoal turns into a diamond only with extreme pressures and temperatures. Today, on 11th March as the Educationist of love and compassion, Fr. Savio Gomes SDB celebrates his 60th Birthday, the best offering of love, the teachers, students and the alumni of Don Bosco Higher Secondary School, Panjim can give to dearest Fr. Savio Gomes is to take a pledge to withstand the challenges and pressures of life and with the grace from God transform themselves into sparkling diamonds. I join my Don Boscoite family in wishing our dearest Fr. Savio Gomes a Happy 60th Birthday.
