“Plan carefully what you do, and whatever you do will turn out right” (Proverbs 4:26).
“It is only fair that you should help those who are in need” (2 Corinthians 8:13).
“The Dalits and Tribals are exploited, educationally most backward, and are socially discriminated against. The Church should be in solidarity with them and make a preferential option for them. In the situation of appalling poverty of the vast majority of the people in India, the Church has to become not just a Church for the poor but the Church of the poor. This would mean, being with the poor in their daily experience of poverty, injustice and oppression and being with them in their efforts to liberate themselves from poverty and oppression for a fuller life. To realize this objective, the Church should join other people of goodwill and work towards the transformation of the structures like caste and class that cause and perpetuate poverty, injustice and oppression” (CBCI 2002, II. C).
“The central focus in the SC’s educational development is their equalization with the non-SC population at all stages and levels of education, in all areas and in all the four dimensions – rural male, rural female, urban male and urban female” (National Policy on Education, 1986, 4.3).

5.1	A collaborative paradigm between the Bishop, the head of the diocese and the various Religious Congregations, which set up and manage their own educational institutions in the diocese or manage such institutions owned by the diocese, is evolved. This collaboration is based on a mutually agreed contract. This contract is drawn up on specified and equitable terms and conditions that will pay due respect and attention to the legitimate areas of both administrative and academic autonomy of the Religious and the domain and authority of the bishop. This paradigm promotes and safeguards the inter-dependence and the distinct and different roles and responsibilities of both the Bishop, as the Chief Pastor of the local Church, and of the school functionaries.
5.2	We recruit and retain qualified and competent staff, who are sensitive to the care for the marginalized and who provide ‘quality education’, in consonance with Gospel values.
5.3	As a matter of justice and equity, we pay standard salaries, conforming to certain basic norms and directions from the Board or University or Government. We safeguard the interests of the teachers and other workers, and do not provide any substance for making the accusation that we are profit-making institutions. Resource mobilization is done through ethical ways. “We deplore all attempts to commercialize education. In particular, we will not accept capitation fees” (CBCI 2006, 8.3).
5.4	Our fee structure remains moderate to meet the cost of a good education and hence our institutions are not seen as profit-making. Fee hikes are done with necessary consultation with parents. Frequent harassment of students and parents for additional money collection is what we avoid in our schools. The policy and practice of our commitment to the poor is communicated to the parents and the public and community support is sought to make it a joint venture.
5.5	We provide scholarships and concessions for the economically needy students. Special efforts are made to build a corpus of Scholarship Fund, to provide ‘quality education’ to the marginalized of our society. We actively involve parents and other agencies in raising the funds. We look for creative new solutions to generate additional funds to continue to serve the poor. The administration of this Fund is through a participatory and transparent system.
5.6	Our institutions become ‘open institutions’, namely, a community resource and hence, some of its facilities, like grounds, hall or classrooms for remedial classes, are made available for use by responsible community members, even if they are not our students, so that this special resource becomes available beyond the few hours that these are normally put to use. As a result, a special bond of solidarity and friendship is built up between the institution and the community around.
5.7	The dignity of woman and her vocation in life is respected, going beyond mere stereotypes. We ensure that students and the whole institutional community accept and practise gender sensitivity, equity and equality, in the class, in norms for selection of student leaders and in our attitudes which get manifested in our language and behaviour. We take firm action when gender-based discrimination occurs. Our aim is to promote a gender-empowered society in India, to redress, in some measure, the great suffering of millions and thus contribute to restore gender justice.
5.8	Knowledge is not for itself but for human welfare. Stress on mere erudition loses itself and will, by itself, find it impossible to give meaning to life. Hence the humanism we advocate is a vision of society, centred on the human person and on his/her inalienable rights, on the values of justice and peace, and on a correct relationship between individuals, society and the State, based on solidarity.
5.9	We ensure that our institutions do not pursue the narrow goal of academic prestige, with a strong focus on marks and medals, but instead aim to foster human values and spiritual maturity among the students and staff. In fact, if a Catholic institution, excellent as an academic institution, does not find it possible to implement the essential characteristics of our Christian values and is not committed to our Mission, we would consider it a radical failure on our part.
5.10	As professional persons we have a code of conduct. Ideally this will be self-regulated. However, we take note of the reality of the situation and see the need to put in place certain norms and directions that we all agree to abide by. This includes on-going self-development programmes for the staff, and a code of conduct and an Evaluation Instrument. This instrument will be used primarily for Self-Evaluation, but would also promote greater transparency and accountability. While fully respecting the legitimate areas of freedom and autonomy, we members of a Diocese or of a Religious Congregation, also accept the need, not only to remain transparent and accountable to ourselves but also to accept a common policy that we agree to own, and hence, to implement faithfully.
5.11	We maintain our integrity and remain a credible witness in society: the Church maintains a high level of credibility in society. This is based on our proven record of commitment and practice. We maintain this credibility by evolving a Code of Conduct and ways and means for its effective implementation so that Church-related institutions continue to be sources of inspiration and powerful witnesses in a corruption-prone society.