St. Patrick's Higher Secondary School
| St. Patrick's School | |
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Sola Nobilitas Virtus
Nobility is the sole Virtue |
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| Location | |
| Asansol, West Bengal, India |
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| Information | |
| Type | Private |
| Established | 1891 |
| Principal | Mrs. Seema Paul |
| Faculty | 60 |
| Grades | KG-12 |
| Number of students | 1,800 |
| Color(s) | Green and Gold |
| Athletics | Football, Cricket, Swimming, Volleyball, Basketball, Badminton, Table Tennis, Hockey. |
| Affiliation | Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations |
| School Site | www.spsasansol.com |
St. Patrick's Higher Secondary School or SPS is one of the oldest schools in eastern India. It is a kindergarten through 12th grade school of secondary education, located in Asansol, in the western part of West Bengal, about 200 km from Kolkata (Calcutta).
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[edit] Founding
St. Patrick's was founded in 1891, by the Congregation of Christian Brothers, a Catholic society from Ireland that has undertaken missionary and educational work worldwide. This group, also informally known as the Christian Brothers, was founded by Edmund Rice. St. Patrick's School, Asansol is one of the 19 Christian Brothers Schools in India. For a brief span during the Second World War, the administration of the School was under the Jesuit Mission of Patna and the school was shifted to Kurji.[1]
[edit] Description
With three sections for each class/grade from KG-10 and two section for 11-12, there are about 1,800 students enrolled in the school. The school follows the 10+2 Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations curriculum which includes the national ICSE exam at the end of Class 10, and the ISC Science exam at the end of Class 12. The school enjoys considerable recognition for academic excellence, having produced many state and national rankers.
St. Patrick's was originally a fully residential school. It started admitting day scholars later, and finally closed the hostel completely in 1984. The school has enrolled girls in Classes 11 and 12 since 2009. The Jubilee Hospital Building on the grounds was built in 1918. It is no longer a functioning hospital, having closed at the same time that hostel was closed. It is currently used as a residence for the Principal and some staff members.
The school is one of the largest landowners in Asansol, with buildings, fields,a huge pond and acres of virgin wooded areas bordering prime real estate like the residential colony known as Hill View or other schools like Loreto Convent (Asansol), Saint Maria Goretti, Saint Joseph's School(Asansol) and St.Vincent's H&T School.
[edit] Alumni Organisations
- SPAI, or St. Patrick's Alumni International, is the largest association of SPS alumni and was founded in 2001. Ex-students are automatically life members. Registering to receive benefits is free; donations are purely optional. Registrations number over 1,300 from India and overseas. The website is spsalumni.org.
- SPOBA, or St. Patrick's Old Boys Association, is the older SPS alumni founded in the late 1980s. It is based in Asansol and during the centenary celebrations of the school it even had a Calcutta Chapter. One can join for a membership fee. Those who passed out of SPS are eligible. The website is spoba.org.
[edit] Notable Alumni
- Stephen Hector Taylor-Smith '11 (the originator of rocket mail in India, and memorialised on a postage stamp)
- Sudhangsu Chakravarty ’42 (Retired Brigadier of the Indian Army, had a one-sided debate with Mahatma Gandhi)
- Chander Govindaswamy '53 (Retired Major General of the Indian Army)
- Himachal Som '61 (former Indian Ambassador to Italy, father of Vishnu Som, NDTV anchor) and husband of Dr. Reba Som, Director of Indian Council for Cultural Relations' Rabindranath Tagore Centre in Kolkata.
- Malay Mukherjee '63 (CEO of Essar Steel, former COO of Mittal Steel and board member of ArcelorMittal)
- S.Talukdar '67 (Group Executive President and CFO of Hindalco Industries Ltd)
- Harish Chander Sharma '75 (Recipient of the Police Medal for Meritorious Service, awarded by the President of India)
- Kaushik Chatterjee '84 (Group CFO of Tata Steel, called "one of India's best CFOs" by Business Today)
[edit] References
