The history of the congregation of Jesus and Mary in Delhi dates back to 1919 when Fr. Luke OFM Cap purchased 14 acres of land in New Delhi. He requested Provincial Superior M. Dorothy to be pioneers of education in New Delhi, then known as Raisina. On 1st October 1919 a coeducational school in a rented house on Alipore Road, Old Delhi began. Foreseeing that Delhi would need good educational institutions, the Chief Commissioner was keen that this promising school should transfer to New Delhi. The Directness of the School M. Collette Coumane with the other pioneering Sisters opened a Day School on 25 January 1923 in the veranda of a cottage next to where the Sacred Heart Cathedral stands today.

The little School in Old Delhi closed on 23 September 1923. The Sisters directed their efforts toward raising the standards of the new Day School on the Cantonment Road, Raisina while they resided in the house beside the Cathedral. It grew in reputation and demands for admissions were ever on the increase. A proper school building was needed. Part of the land belonging to the church was leased to the Sisters. Fund raising campaigns and a building grant of Rs 10,000, led to the construction of“a suitable and permanent Day School in keeping with the surrounding buildings of the Imperial City” in 1926. Staff quarters in 1928 and in 1931 a garage and driver's quarters followed. Numbers were still increasing, so in 1935 the two stoned“Avila”block was built forthenew“Branch School” and two years later, the “St Joseph's” block for staffquarters.

When M. Blandine Carrol was head, numbers had increased and the school was granted Middle School status in 1935. School life flowed smoothly during WW II years. Children were aware ofhuman needs in India and abroad. Fetes, programmes and collections were organized for the downtrodden and poor and victims of tragedies and calamities-not forgetting those of the Chelsea fire in 1946 and later, their own, the Krist Raja School. Being located in the capital city of India, the Indian independence and its consequences cast their shadow over the school but it emergedunscathed.

In 1970 the school celebrated its Golden Jubilee. Sr Dorothy Rodrigues took over as Principal when M. De Sales was transferred to Pakistan. A storey on the Junior School building provided classrooms for the Kindergarten. The school transferred affiliation from the ICSE Board to the CBSE Board in the interest of the students. The parents were made aware of their role in education through the inauguration of the PTA. The school also cooperated with the Ministry of SocialWelfare and Rehabilitation in 1973 to initiate evening coaching classes for young women of Scheduled Castes and Tribes to train them to be eligible for employment.

Inkeeping with the mission of Jesus and Mary, the school adopted anearby slum to give the students opportunities for social service. Projects were undertaken to sensitize the students and their parents to the needs of the underprivileged: the Krist Raja School for the poor, Prem Dan Creche for the children of 42 Municipal workers in which the whole school is involved, Ujjala, an outreach education programme for 120 neighbourhood slum children. The school has adopted the Baleswa village of evicted slum dwellers. They visit them, make regular collections provide freemedical check-up for them and sponsor two teachers.

Different activities and programmes continue to bring out the best in the students. Hopefully they will in turn give to society what they have received. Today, CJM Delhi is a Senior Secondary School. It has kept up with modern trends and demands of education through the Smart Classroom and e- learning. Administration has been updated with e-Care and websites which keep parents abreast with the happenings in school.

2019 was the Centenary year of Convent of Jesus and Mary, New Delhi. On October 1, 2018, CJM initiated its Centenary celebrations with a dance drama titled, ’Udaan- Chhoona Hai Aasmaan’ and culminated on December 4, 2019 with the staging of Oliver Twist.

May CJM Delhi continue to live up to its motto ‘to serve with love’!