St. Patrick's Higher Secondary School

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).

Founding

St. Patrick’s School was built in 1877 as a Scholasticate for Belgian Jesuits. It was abandoned by them because of severe Asansol climate. It was taken over by Christian Brothers in 1890 and opened as St. Patrick’s Boarding of Anglo- Indian and European Boys.^[1] Thus it can be said that 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 Ignatius 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.^[2]

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 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, Maria Goretti, St. Joseph's School and St. Vincent's School.

Alumni

• The school is open to all alumni.

Panoramic photo of the school from atop the main school building.

School anthem

Here all let's sing a school song

For the best school of them all

Cheer all, cheer for St. Patrick's

Cheer for St. Patrick's Asansol

Whatever the task on us depend

We'll fight to the last our school to defend

Whether at books or games

It's all the same

We are always top in the end

So here all let's sing a school song

For the best school of them all

Cheer all, cheer for St. Patrick's

For we are the best of all!

Notable alumni

• Stephen Hector Taylor-Smith '11 (the originator of rocket mail in India, and memorialised on a postage stamp)
• Late 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.
• Samir Tewari '83 (Director of the Bollywood movie, Mr Joe B. Carvalho)
• Partha Pratim Chakraborty, Director of IIT Kharagpur 2013 – present

References

1. ↑ Initial Beginning
2. ↑ School Administration over the years

External links

• Official website of SPS Asansol