Rajendra Shinde 1st Non-Christian Principal at St Xavier’s Mumbai

Rajendra Shinde, who currently heads the Botany department, will assume charge on 1 September.

Rajendra Shinde (right) with his wife.

(Photo Courtesy: Facebook)

From a studying in a single-room primary school with no roof or door, to becoming the first non-Christian head of the St Xavier’s College in Mumbai, Rajendra Shinde has come a long way.

St Xavier’s, since its inception in 1869, has never had a non-Christian head. In fact, a Times of India report notes that this move could make St Xavier the only “top line Christian institution in the country to have a non-Christian head”.

Shinde will take charge as the college’s 24th principal on 1 September, coinciding with the college’s 150th year celebrations.

Considered a premier institute in the country, the college was established by Roman Catholics also known as the Jesuits.

The college first broke its tradition of Jesuit principals in 2015 when it appointed Angnteelo Menezes as its 23rd head.

Hailing from a modest railway employees family in Odha village, about 15 kilometers from Nashik, Shinde completed his primary education in a school with no roof or door.

Shinde remembers in a Facebook post that back then the Manavatanagar School had only one teacher.

Our teacher, Vijay Wagh used to cycle from Nasik everyday till the wall was constructed and door, window put in place in 1971!

Rajendra Shinde

Shinde and his friends would give Wagh company after he started staying back at the school.

Some of us would give him company in the night, we would study for 4th grade scholarship exam and he would do his BA study.

Rajendra Shinde

Deciding to move to Mumbai in 1978 to pursue his higher studies, he attended Stanislaus Jr College to complete his higher secondary and then completed his BSc in Botany from St Xavier’s, Mumbai.

In his 35-year association with the college, from being an herbarium curator, has held the posts of reader, exam controller, international programme director and finally going on to become the vice-principal in 2011.