Karachi Grammar School

Karachi Grammar School
Location
Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan
Information
School type	Independent school
Motto	Indocti Discant (Let The Unlearned Learn)
Religious affiliation(s)	Anglican Church of Pakistan
Founded	1847
Founder	The Rev. Henry Brereton
Principal	Mr. C. N. Wrigley
Head Teacher(s)	Mrs. D. F. C. Mujahid Mrs. R. J. Muncherji Mrs. N. F. Rahman
Gender	Co-educational
Age	3 to 19
Houses	Frere      Napier      Streeton      Papworth
Publication	The Grammarian The Pulse
Mission Statement	Lucerna Meis Pedibus A Lantern to my feet
Alumni	Old Grammarians www.ogs.com.pk
Website	www.kgs.edu.pk www.kgs547.edu.pk www.kgs-adm.edu.pk

Karachi Grammar School (KGS) is an independent English-medium school in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. It is a selective, coeducational school serving approximately 2,400 students aged between three and nineteen years.

Established in 1847 by the Reverend Henry Brereton, the first chaplain of Karachi, as a school for "English and Anglo-Indo children", it is the oldest private school in Pakistan and the second oldest in the Indian Subcontinent.

Over the past nineteen years, the school has expanded from a school with a population of a few hundred students to a large institution that now occupies three sites and teaches more than two thousand students. Karachi Grammar School is well-known for the academic performance of its students, who have managed to secure places in top universities around the world.

History

In 2010, KGS published The Life and Times of Karachi Grammar School, a book that contains the history of the school. Sources for the book include documents and photographs from the pre-partition period, the principal's logbook on school affairs from 1920–1950, books and articles, interviews and other historical material.

1847–1854: Origins

Karachi Grammar School was founded as the Anglo-Indian School in 1847. It remained the only non-native school in the town for the next 3 years before St Patrick's High School was founded in 1861, followed by Manora School in 1866 and St Joseph's Convent School in 1870. Reverend Henry Brereton, the First Chaplain of Karachi, established the school and provided the early accommodation for the school at his private residence. The class formed by the Chaplain was at first small enough to be accommodated in this modest premises, however the smooth running of this school over the next seven years was disturbed by rumors of Brereton not being a 'good master' and his performance as a manager unsatisfactory.

Looking into this matter, on 27 July 1854 the Commissioner Bartle Frere summoned a public meeting with a view of establishing an institution that provided 'good secular instruction to children of all sects'. In this meeting funds were collected through subscriptions to establish a school , a managing committee was appointed and rules were framed that later became the basis for the present Constitution of KGS. It was the newly appointed managing committee that decided to purchase the Mess House of Her Majesty's 64th Regiment at No. 24 Depot Lines, which is at the site of the present day Middle School. The reorganized school was formally opened on 1 November 1854 as "The Kurrachee European and Indo-European School".

1854–1914: Early years

The school continued on its regular course with a small student body of around 40 children. In 1874, Reverend G B Streeton, then Chaplain of Karachi and Hon. Secretary of the School suggested a plan that included expanding the school premises and securing a title deed for the land the school was to occupy, which could only be completed by August 1890 due to complications regarding the governments rights to resumption of cantonment land.

Streeton raised Rs. 47,918, which enabled his plan to go ahead. Captain Thomas F Dowden of the Royal Bombay Engineers was commissioned to make the architectural drawings for the new building. The new school building was opened for boarders on 27 February 1875 by Sir William Merewether, Commissioner-in-Sind at that time. The roll of children was 75 in 1875 and 90 children in 1876 with six teachers, implying a pupil-teacher ratio of 15:1.

During the following years, the school flourished. It was endowed with a library in memory of a local doctor. In 1879, the school was renamed from 'The Kurrachee European and Indo-European School' to 'Karachi Grammar School'.

During 1901 the school went through a difficult time after the headmaster, Mr. Taylor, was forced into resignation by the school's managing committee; the number of students decreased considerably over the course of the following year. Taylor opened his own school named "Taylor High School". In 1902 Taylor returned along with the pupils from his private school. During the next three years the school improved academically; however, it struggled financially, barely affording the employees. In 1910 the school received a grant of Rs.2000, which continued over the next thirty years and rescued it from financial crisis.

In 1912, Bernard Tobin was the first pupil to take, and pass, the Cambridge School Certificate Examination. Additionally, this year marked the first scouts enrolled from the school. Towards the end of 1914, construction began on the third storey of the school, and students were temporarily taught in a building on Mereweather Road, which was given free of cost. The total count of students had reached 151.

Admissions

The school has an admissions process in place for all the levels of education it offers, including registration with the need to provide proof of identity and details of siblings or parental history in relation to the school. The school is divided between the kindergarten section, junior section, middle section, and college section, with only the start of each section being open for admissions. Furthermore, only individuals in a certain age range may be admitted to each section. The admissions process includes an interview and a test for all sections, except kindergarten. The subjects of the tests are English, mathematics, and Urdu, with general sciences being an additional subject for the college section.

Academics and curriculum

Teaching system

Karachi Grammar School gives its students 15 years of education on its three different sites. The Kindergarten and Junior school are accommodated in the same site located in Clifton, with students spending their Nursery, Prep, 1st and 2nd Classes in the Kindergarten Section and Classes 3–6 in its Junior Section. Children spend three years in Classes 7–9 in the Middle School located on the Old Saddar site. On the senior level, KGS is geared towards preparing students for GCE Ordinary Level, Advanced Subsidiary Level, and Advanced Level examinations.

Subjects taught at KGS include Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Additional Mathematics, Biology, Computer Studies, Computing, Pakistan Studies, Urdu, Islamic Studies, English Literature, English Language, Economics, Accounts, Business Studies, World History, Art, World Geography, French, Psychology and Sociology.

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  College Section, Clifton

• 

  Middle Section, Saddar

• 

  Kindergarten and Junior Section, Clifton

Extracurricular activities

In the junior section, extra-curricular activities available include sports, music, swimming, a school choir, scouts and girl guides, community service, and French lessons. For the middle and college sections, activities are organized through clubs and societies, such as the biology and history clubs, or the Helpers and Einstein societies.

Clubs and societies

The school also has a history of winning national debate competitions and several students have represented Pakistan in the World Schools Debating Championships.

House system

The four school houses are:

•      Frere (for Sir Henry Bartle Frere, Bt., G.C.B.)
  Established: 1930
  Motto: Fortiter, Fideliter, Feliciter (Latin)
  Motto in English: Bravely, Faithfully, Happily
  Mascot: Red Indian
•      Napier (for Gen. Sir Charles James Napier, G.C.B.)
  Established: 1930
  Motto: Universi Stamus (Latin)
  Motto in English: In Unity Lies Strength
  Mascot: Panther
•      Streeton (for the Rev. G. B. Streeton, M.A.)
  Established: 1930
  Motto: Excelsior (Latin)
  Motto in English: Ever Upwards
  Mascot: Dragon
•      Papworth (for a former principal, Leonard Papworth, M.B.E.)
  Established: 1999
  Motto: Virtus Vincit Omnia (Latin)
  Motto in English: Valor Conquers All
  Mascot: Shark
  

The house system was introduced in 1929 and the houses were originally known as A, B and C; the following year the house names were changed to Napier, Frere and Streeton respectively.

Notable alumni

Name	Class year	Notability	References
Abdurrahman Wahid	Non-graduating	Former President of Indonesia
Arieb Azhar		Singer
Asad Rafi		Motivational Speaker
Asher Hasan	1990	Social entrepreneur; TED Fellow, Founder of NAYA JEEVAN
Asif Ali Zardari	1960	President, Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Atta ur Rahman	1960	Organic chemist; Fellow Royal Society of London; Federal Minister for Science and Technology
Benazir Bhutto	1969	Former Prime Minister of Pakistan and first elected female head of state of the Muslim World.
Chaudhary Muhammad Ali		Special Secretary to Chief Minister of the Government of Sindh (2004–2007)
Dail Jones	1959	New Zealand politician; member of the New Zealand First party, was a former party president
Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi		Politician; acting President of Pakistan
Hameed Haroon		CEO Dawn Media Group	[citation needed]
Hussain Haroon		Pakistani ambassador to the United Nations
Kamila Shamsie		Novelist
Kumail Nanjiani	1996	Comedian, actor
Murtaza Bhutto	1971	Politician; senior member of Pakistan Peoples Party
Nadeem F. Paracha	1983	Journalist, cultural critic, satirist, short story writer
Nadia Zaffar		Dawn News anchor, producer
Nafisa Shah	1986	Member of National Assembly, Chair of the National Commission for Human Development, General Secretary of the Women’s Parliamentary Caucus
Nazia Hassan		Pop singer
Pervez Hoodbhoy		Nuclear physicist; Political-defence analyst
Sabiha Sumar		Filmmaker
Sadeq Sayeed		Banker, businessman
Shahryar Rashed	Non-graduating	Poet
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy	1997	Journalist, Documentarian; Emmy Award winner, Oscar winner
Sherry Rehman		Pakistani Ambassador to the United States, former editor of Herald Magazine.
Waheed Murad	1954	Actor, producer, scriptwriter
David Muller		President of the South Movement

Staff

Mrs. Norma Fernandes, former Headmistress of the Kindergarten and Junior Section and Mrs. Durre Nau Mujahid is Headmistress of the Senior School.

External links

• Karachi Grammar School website