Progress Continues

Hindi, the federal language, began to be taught in the College from June 1949. The Principal, Fr. Balaguer himself was a student of Hindi and, before assuming office, he spent a year in Allahabad learning Hindi while residing in the hostel for Hindi-speaking students. When India was proclaimed a secular, democratic Republic in 1950, St. Xavier's commemorated the historic event by instituting guidance classes to help students preparing for the competitive examinations conducted by the Union Public Service Commission.

St. Xavier's had a social service unit already functioning in 1940, holding adult literacy classes, attending to family case-work and endeavouring to deal with child-delinquency. In 1951 this unit blossomed into the Social Service League (S.S.L.), the chief activities of which include visits to hospitals, and the promotion of the welfare of slum-dwellers in selected areas of Bombay City and of rural inhabitants in the Community Development projects.

St. Xavier's has, perhaps, more departments than any other college. In 1951 the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and in 1957 the Department of Psychology were instituted.