Sacred Heart Sr. Sec. School (Sidhpur)

For other uses, see Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School.

Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School is a convent school of Dharamshala, situated at Sidhpur Dari Dharamshala, in Kangra district, Himachal Pradesh, India. This school is also one of the oldest in the area, as well.-->

The school is a unit of the Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary, which has branches in all five continents. The school was established in 1969 and is a co-educational institution open to students irrespective of caste, colour, creed and religion.

The Indo-Pakistan war of 1965 affected the administrative set up of the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary in India. The then Provincial mother Declan was contemplating opening new avenues for apostolic activities. At that time some military officials contacted Mother Declan, asking for sisters to take over the Garrison school, a small primary school at Yol military camp in Himachal Pradesh. A military bungalow was given to the sisters as residence and several similar bungalows nearby to be used for the school, which was then run by an elderly lady.

On 26 August 1966, five sisters arrived in Yol (Srs. Giovanni, Vincentia, Susan, Nirmala and Justina). In November 1966 the community was officially established with Sr. Corneliave as its first superior and Srs. Vincentia, Susan, Silvia, and Lucia as founding members.

By January 1967 the Primary Garrison School with 150 students was taken over by the sisters and it was rechristened “Sacred Heart Garrison School”. It was a co-educational school with the arrival of the 4th Mountain Division of the army under the commands of Major General Rai, the number of students increased, the bungalows could not accommodate them. So more classrooms were needed. Aftersearching a new location between Dharamsala and Yol, in Sidhpur, was found. Though very rocky land, it gave a picturesque sight of the natural beauty of the snow covered foot hills of the Dauladhar Ranges. The new school building consisted of eight class rooms and all the facilities for the boarding school. The classes started in Sidhpur in 1969. The convent in Sidhpur was built later.

The first prize distribution function was held at the school in Yol on December 5, 1969. Shri Choudhary Hari Ram, the then Transport minister of Himachal Pradesh was our honourable Chief Guest. In March 1970, the late Dr. Y.S. Parmar, the then Chief minister of H.P. formally inaugurated Sacred Heart High School, Sidhpur with classes Primary to I.S.C (+2).

From then on school grew rapidly. The local population increased steadily and there was demand for more admissions, therefore the boarding house had to be closed down in 1985.

Initially started as a purely girls school, it became co-educational in the early seventies on the request of the locals, as it was the only convent school in the area. Sacred Heart High School was also a boarding school for girls. In the early seventies, Mother Phillip Murphy was the principal of the school and also the Mother Superior of the Convent. In 2013, the principal is Sister Archana. The boarding has since been closed and it serves as a day-school only.

A few months ago Sr. Grace had transferred and in place of her Sr. Elsy Paul had joined the school.

Aims

• The Congregation values the Educational Apostolate, of helping individuals to discover the dignity as human persons and children of God. To bring about a society based on love, justice and peace, is one of the most important expressions of this mission.
• The endeavour is to foster the personal growth of the individual: intellectually competent, morally sound; psychologically whole, imbued with the sense of Divine, respectful of the environment, committed to the cause of justice, love and peace and ever receptive to the challenges of continued growth.
• To implement the vision, the Congregation expects the collaboration of a supportive and inspiring management, a dedicated and united staff, concerned parents and valued assistance of the students both past and present, of the neighbouring community and government authorities.

Admissions

• Admission to Lower K.G. will be taken after an interactive session with parents.
• The child should have completed three years on 31 December of the previous year of admission.
• A certificate with registration number from the Municipality/ Hospital stating the Date of birth should be produced at the time of the admission.
• A corresponding age is required for the admission to other classes where only vacant seats are filled in. In Such cases admission stands cancelled if T.C. from the previous school is not produced within a week.
• Admission to +1(Class11) will be in the first week of April.

Notable Alumni

• Venkateshwar Sharma
• Yati Katoch

References

Official website Of Sacred Heart School, Sidhpur.