Goodwill Education Society, Cortalim, has been the brainchild of Mrs. Antonieta Socorrinha
Coutinho.
Mrs. Antonieta Coutinho, spent her childhood in Cortalim Village, located in South Goa.
During her formative years she encountered trying times in her pursuit to attend quality
education in Cortalim.
Cortalim village was divided from north to south by the treacherous accident-prone National
Highway 66 connecting North Goa to South Goa. All the schools, baring the Govt Middle
School, were located on the scarcely populated east side of the NH 66. While the densely
populated west side of the NH 66 had no school, making commuting to school a life
threatening experience for most of the residents.
Ms. Antonieta Coutinho later relocated to Margao where she graduated in Arts from Smt.
Parvatibai Chowlegle. She finally returned to Cortalim village in 1989 where she setup a
Kindergarten, namely Busy Babes Kindergarten on the western side of the NH 66. Her
dedicated efforts in imparting formative education and her uncanny nature of getting along
with little children won the trust and confidence of the residents in the village. Busy Babes
Kindergarten soon grew to be the main institute in Cortalim imparting formative education
little children.
By the year 1993 Ms. Antonieta Coutinho earned the support and trust of most of the
residents of Cortalim Village who strongly persuaded her to upgrade the kindergarten into a
Govt. recognised Primary School. Firmly believing that it was the need of the hour, then, to
provide the west of Cortalim village with a primary school she decided to seek permission
from the Goa Government for the same. As per the prevailing rules, then, for opening of the
government recognised school, only a registered Education Society could open a Govt.
Recognised Private School.
Ms. Antonieta Coutinho, along with like-minded individuals, who believed that education is
the path to progress of society, formed the Goodwill Education Society, Cortalim which was
registered under the Societies Registration Act 1960 on 23 September 1993. This was a
secular Society having members from all faiths. The sole aim of the Society was to make
quality education accessible in Cortalim irrespective of, financial status, caste, religion or
region.
The Government of Goa, on conducting a feasibility survey of Cortalim village, granted
Goodwill Education Society permission to open a new recognised Primary School namely
Vidhya Vihar Primary School w.e.f. June 1995.
Goodwill Education Society, under the chairmanship of Mr. Adrian Coutinho, opened Vidhya
Vihar Primary School with Ms. Antonieta Coutinho as the Manager and Head of School.
From here on the school grew in leaps and bounds in all of school curricula, prompting the
government to grant the school High School status w.e.f June 2008. In 2012 the schools first
Class X batch secured 100% passing results at the Goa Board Secondary Examination
being the first school in Cortalim Village to achieve this distinction.
Goodwill Education Society’s Vidhya Vihar High School and Primary School strives to draw
out the full potential of our students, fostering in them rich values of social and cultural
heritage so that they are urged to respond to life’s challenges with courage and commitment
to serve society as responsible citizens.