Karuna Mary Braganza

Mary Braganza, popularly known as Karuna Mary, is an Indian Catholic nun, educationist, social worker, writer, a promoter of developmental education and a former Principal of Sophia College, Mumbai. She is a member of the Society of the Sacred Heart (RSCJ) and is a former head of 204 colleges managed by the Order. It was during her tenure at Sophia College, the institution started Sophia Polytechnic in 1970. The Government of India awarded her the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2008, for her contributions to society.

Braganza, née Mary, was born in Mapuca in the Indian state of Goa as the fifth of the 10 children in the family, but grew up in Bandra, a suburb of Mumbai. She graduated from the St. Xavier's College, Mumbai and secured her post graduate degree from the same institution; her social activities had already started during her college days when she organized mission camps in Talasari. She joined the Society of the Sacred Heart as a nun in 1950, her ordination taking place in England. Returning to India, she took up the job of a teacher at Sophia High School, Bengaluru and, after working there for a few years, joined Sophia College, Mumbai as a member of faculty of the English department. She rose in ranks there, to serve as the Head of the department of English, vice principal and became the principal of the college in 1965, the first Indian to hold the position.

During her tenure as the principal of the college, she is reported to have initiated several educational and social projects. She founded Bhabha Institute of Science, a division of the college for science education up to graduate level and started new departments for Sociology, Psychology and Biochemistry. In 1970, the college started a vocational education centre under the name, Sophia Polytechnic and five years later, a junior college stated functioning. Another of her major contributions was the establishment of S.P.J. Sadhana School for the Developmentally Challenged, in the college campus, where differently abled children were given vocational training and provided with opportunities for rehabilitation. She is also known to have encouraged students to take up social activities; student involvement with Warli tribals and at Kosbad were two such programmes.

After retiring from Sophia College, Braganza moved to Delhi and took up the post of the Secretary of the All India Association for Christian Higher Education, holding the responsibility of 204 colleges under its jurisdiction. She served the Association for six years till her move to Torpa, a tribal area in the present day Jharkhand state, in 1998, as a teacher of English language at the St. Joseph’s College. Learning the local dialect of Mundari, she worked among the tribal people and founded the Centre for Women’s Development (CWD) and a women's self-help group in 1990. The movement, later, grew to host 5000 members. Her efforts have been reported behind the establishment of an English medium school, creche, children's play school, and a girls' hostel. She was also instrumental in the documentation of indigenous herbs of the area. During this period, she had to face resistance from some of the dissenting locals who alleged conversion, and survived an attack by local thugs.

In 2000, Braganza went back to Mumbai where he revived the Alumni Association of Sophia College and got involved with their activities as the director of the association for five years. She was also involved in rural programmes of Sisters of Color Ending Sexual Assault (SCESA) such as rainwater harvesting in Mangaon in the Raigad district of Maharashtra. In 2005, when Zainab Tobaccowala Secular High School, a local school, was devastated by the floods, she took up the cause and generated funds for the reconstruction and assisted in the re-establishment of the school by helping to hire competent teachers. Her involvement is also reported in the establishment of Sophia Center for Women's Studies, division for vocational studies at Sophia College, and in the relocation and rebuilding of St Mary’s Convent School, Matara, a Tsunami-affected school in Sri Lanka. A periodic writer on developmental education, she has served as the editor of the newsletter published by the Indian Association for Women's Studies (IAWS), where she regularly contributed editorial articles.

The Government of India awarded her the civilian honour of the Padma Shri in 2008. Braganza, a life member of the Centre for Women's Development Studies (CWDS), lives her retired life in Pune, where she is based since 2006. Her life has been documented in a 396-page book, The Charism of Karuna - Life Story of Sister Karuna Mary Braganza, published in 2011.