St. Francis' College
| St. Francis' College | |
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| Motto | Pax-et Bonum ("Peace and all good [be with you].") |
| Established | 1885 |
| Type | Unaided Anglo-Indian School |
| Principal | Rev. Fr. Denis Naresh Lobo |
| Academic staff | Science |
| Students | 3000 |
| Location | Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India |
| Affiliations | Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, New Delhi I.C.S.E ISC |
| Website | http://www.stfranciscollege.edu.in |
St. Francis' College is a Senior Secondary boys-only private school in Lucknow, India, established and administered by The Catholic Diocese of Lucknow, a charitable religious society. The college was founded in 1885 as St. Francis' School and Orphanage, with the object of imparting education in a manner that would conserve the students religion, language and culture. The school is named after its patron saint, St. Francis of Assisi.
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[edit] Chronological History
[edit] Colonial
• April 26, 1885: Reverend Father Norbert, who at that time, was the Parish Priest of St.Joseph’s Church, took two students under his guidance and teaching instructions. This lead to the need of an educational institute for boys, which were very few at that time and mostly for British. Father Norbert thus founded the St.Francis’ School & Orphanage with his bungalow serving as classrooms, kitchen and dormitory. (Presently Cathedral Senior Secondary School stands where the priest house was located.)
• March 26, 1886: After the early demise of Fr. Norbert, a Belgian Capuchin, Father Emmanuel Van Den Bosch, acceded to his position. The growing number of students called for a new building structure.
• May 4, 1890: Father Bartholomew set forth the foundation of St.Francis’ Boarding and Day School for boys, with monetary support from the Bishop of Allahabad.
• 1893: Father Bartholomew constructed the new priest house (presently, the Bishop’s House) and gave the old presbytery to be used as boys’ dorm.
• 1894: The school was subsumed under the Educational Department and hence recognized for secondary education level. Shortage of financial resources and land were hampering the expansion and progress of the institution.
• 1908: A vast expanse of land with a center building, next to the church on Shahnazaf Road, was bought by the Bishop of Allahabad, Fr.Petronius Hramigna, for the school and the edifice of St. Francis’ College has stood here ever since.
• June 1, 1910: Father Celestine, the newly appointed Principal, put forward the construction plan for a new building on the recently purchased property to the Educational Department. Although the proposal was accepted, the subsidy approval was taking a lot of time. Finally the amount was provided with some contribution from the Diocese.
• May 6, 1915: Father Celestine laid the foundation stones for the two new buildings to be constructed, one serving as the school hall and classes, other as the boarding dorm. Currently the are the Gymnasium and Old Concert Hall(OCH) respectively.
• January, 1918: The buildings were completed by the Messrs.P.Labanti & Company of Italy, despite the difficulties met due to material cost in those years of conflicts and revolts between the British Government and India. A playground was also added to the front of the plot for sports, games and various other purposes.
• February 7, 1918: The Lieutenant Governor of Uttar Pradesh, Sir James Meston, visited the school. As the school was still on the watch for more land, the large plot behind the current plot was purchased to serve as the Backfield, along with the Dayal Bagh Land.
• 1921: St. Francis’ College was given the stature of High School and was affiliated to the Cambridge University for the Senior Cambridge Examination.
• 1923: Father Stephen released the school hall for reading and studying and constructed a separate dining-hall.
• 1925: Father Celestine provided a dispensary (presently the Principal’s office and Staff room) and a Chapel.
• 1929: The institute was equipped with a Science Lab (now the Chemistry Lab).
• April 1, 1941: With the passing away of Father Celestine, Father John Chrysostom took the toll.
• October 12, 1941: Father John Chrysostom provided the school with new classrooms and an additional building(St. John Chrysostom block) for housing the Principals and teachers, Principal’s office and some classrooms.
[edit] Post Independence
Post Independence-
• The school was brought in co-ordinance with new educational policy after independence. The center building was demolished and taken place by a new double storey structure with better classrooms, whose corner stone was blessed by Bishop Conradde Vito and laid by Dr.Sampuranand, the Educational Minister of Uttar Pradesh, on August 2, 1947, to mark the start of the new era of an Independent India and the existing co-operation between the Catholic Church and the State in the field of education. The new block was dedicated to Bishop Poli for his hard work and dedication to this field during his 32 year tenure as Bishop of Allahabad and 50 years of service.
• February 8, 1953: St.Francis’ Hospital & Charitable Dispensary came into function, thus releasing the former school infirmary to used as the school library and Principal’s office.
• July 6, 1959: A new teachers’ quarter was set up at the entrance of the school.
• 1960: The Principal, Father Ramano, demolished the old house behind the central building to replace it with a 3 storey structure containing 8 classrooms, a study hall and dormitories and library. The building was inaugurated on September 30, 1963 by Shri B.N. Das, Governor of Uttar Pradesh. The old dorm was over hauled into a modern Gymnasium with wooden flooring and equipments.
• 1971: Father Leo Lobo became the second Indian Principal of the Institute after Father Raphel in 1949.
• 1972: The St. John Chrysostom block was demolished for the construction of a primary section block.
• July, 1974: The new 2-storied junior block was inaugurated by Father Raymond. The old I.S.C. Exam system for the 11th standard was done away with and replaced by the new 10+2 system with exams at the end of 10th and another at the end of 12th grade, known as Indian Certificate of Secondary Education and Indian School Sertificate (I.C.S.E & I.S.C.) respectively.
• January, 1976: The institute was renamed to St.Francis’ College, hence providing Intermediate level education for students of 11th and 12th grade. The existing Science lab was pulled down and replaced by a new 2-storied structure.
• May. 1977, Father Ignatius Menezes became the Principal and brought about many improvements to the school like paving of the pathways and assembly quadrangle, new furniture for class-rooms and the overall refurbishment of the college structures.
• July, 1981: Father Oswald Lewis became Principal and added a third floor to the primary section building in 1983.
• April 8, 1994: Under the tenure of Father Anthony D’Souza, St.Francis’ College Swimming Pool was inaugurated by Shri Motilal Vohra, the then Governor of U.P. and blessed by Rt.Rev.Dr.Albert D’Souza.
• The college has ever since been working to improve and perfect its education system and infrastructure and additions like computer labs, music rooms and equipment, providing students with up-to date facilities and technology in this modern era.
[edit] Houses
- St. Andrew's
House flag color: Blue
House motto: "For Honor Alone"
- St. George's
House flag color: Red
House motto: "In Honor Bound"
- St. Patrick's
House flag color: Green
House motto: "Fight the good fight"
- St. Francis'
House flag color: Yellow
House motto: "Perseverance Conquers All"
[edit] Uniform
The uniform comprises white T-shirt and light grey pants(shorts for primary section students) and black shoes along with the college tie and belt marked with Navi Blue, Dark Green and White stripes. This is accompanied by navi blue jumpers and blazer in winters, along with dark grey woolen pants.
[edit] Publication
The Franciscan is the College annual magazine, that has all the updates about College events and literary articles and submissions from students, as well as the class & staff photographs, etc.
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School magazine cover from 1961
[edit] Events & Festivals
P.T. display & Annual Sports Day is organized every alternate year, where all the students take part in the Physical Training display, accompanied by other athletics & track & field events.
Art & Science Exhibition-Organized after every 2 years, it showcases the artistic talent of the students as well as their innovative scientific thinking.
Annual Concert- Also organized every alternate year,a mixture of sound,music,dance and overall entertainment for the students and enthusiastic parents to watch.
College Fête- On account of Children's Day, the annual Fête is held on 14th Nov. every year,but it may be postponed to some future date too. The colorful event is filled with fun & frolic with children and adults enjoying equally.
EXPRESSIONS-Started in 2006, St.Francis' College, Lucknow has been annually organizing "EXPRESSION" - An Inter College Literary & Cultural Fest, attempted to showcase the best student talent from various prestigious institutions of the city. The 4 day extravaganza endeavours on the part of St. Francis' College to bring students from Classes IX to XII in a spirit of healthy competition- vying for laurels in various conventional and novel contests.
CROSSROADS-The alumni association of St. Francis' College, Old Franciscans' Association (OFA), were the organisers for CROSSROADS which was the annual Inter Collegiate Festival in Lucknow. Last CROSSROADS was held in 2002, and was subsequntly discountinued.
Patron's Day, 4 October-Feast of St. Francis' of Assisi-Patron Saint. It starts with a Holy mass in the Chapel at 7 a.m., followed by a general assembly for classes VI to XII and felicitation ceremony for meritorious students as well as for teachers who have completed 25 years of dedicated service to the college. The morning is followed by lunch for the staff at noon.
[edit] College Anthem
http://stfranciscollege.edu.in/patron/college-anthem/
[edit] Principals
http://www.stfranciscollege.edu.in/principals/
[edit] Alumni: Old Franciscans’ Association
The alumni association of St. Francis' College is called the Old Franciscans' Association (OFA).The Association organises a number of cultural, social and educational events that serve to stimulate and maintain interest among its members and institution. It holds the Old Boys' Dinner every year as a reunion for past students. It has also helped the college in issuing its own postal stamp.
[edit] Notable Alumni
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This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability or notability policies. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources cited within this article showing they are notable and alumni or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations. (September 2011) |
Rajat Garg - Prefect 1994-1995 (Presently, Founder & CEO - Scynox Inc.)
CA Kumar Sankalp-Tulip Builders(MD)
Cliff Richard,singer
Jimmy Shergill,actor
Manoj Singla, Managing Director, Religare Capital Markets Limited
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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