St. Ann's High School, Secunderabad

Saint Ann's High School is a girls school located at East Marredpally, Secunderabad, India. It was opened on April 1, 1871.^[1] Saint Ann's Convent was founded by Mother Enrichetta, an Italian missionary, in the 18th century.

The school is named after Saint Anne, known by tradition as the mother of The Virgin Mary. The school's motto is "Sicutapis Operosa" which translates from Latin to English as "Busy As Bees". The students from first to tenth grade are divided into four houses: Daffodils, Pansies, Roses, and Shamrocks and follow two syllabi: ICSE (white belts) and SSC (red belts). The students in eleventh and twelfth grade are divided into the houses Violets and Orchids and follow the ISC syllabus.

History

Msgr.Dominic Barbero invited the Sisters of St.Ann of Divine Providence to Hyderabad Vicariate and Mother Enrichetta Dominici selected six sisters on November 20, 1870. The six Sisters arrived in Secunderabad on 3 March 1871. The Sisters were entrusted with the orphanage and education of girls. To impart education to the poor and needy the school was started on 1 April 1871 with 25 orphans and 3 boarders by the Sisters of St.Ann.

Byn 1883 the strength had increased to 130 pupils. In November 1884 it was inspected and recognized as a Middle School. From its start the school presented pupils for the Middle School Examination for the Madras Matriculation.

In May 1902 it was recognized by Madras as a European Aided High School. In 1911, the Madras Matriculation was abandoned for the Cambridge examination which was later superseded by the Indian School Certificate Examination. From 1915 candidates were sent up for the Cambridge School Certificate. From 1933 till 1941, candidates were also sent up for the HSLC introduced by the Nizam, followed later by the HSC, and now by the SSC. Throughout these years candidates were also sent up for the Trinity College of Music Examination which is still being carried as on date.

For many years boys were kept in the school up to the age of eight years but it was found necessary to stop admitting boys, so as not to refuse admission to girls and in 1966 the last batch of boys completed their studies.

There were three sections in each class imparting instruction according to the HSC Syllabus which later became the SSC course run by the State Education Department. Since the school had grown very large a decision was taken to bifurcate the SSC section from the ISC Section thus creating two separate High Schools each with a course of studies independent of the other. While bifurcating the school the St.Joseph’s Middle School, was amalgamated with the SSC Section of the St.Ann’s High School. The Kindergarten is a separate section where the children are prepared for both schools. The amalgamation and the bifurcation took place on 11-06-1970.

On 1 April 1971 the school celebrated its Centenary - 1871 to 1971.

In the 1970s and 1980s being a student in St Ann's High School was a privilege. The school stood on spacious grounds, and had everything from huge playgrounds to assembly halls, and the language medium was English. It was run primarily by nuns.

In 2006, the main building was demolished, and rebuilt on the school grounds. This renovation was necessitated by the addition of a foot bridge across the main road in front of the school.

Discrimination against other religions

In the 1970s and 1980s being a student in St Ann's High School was a privilege. While Catholic children were given preference at times of admissions and Hindu and Muslim children had opportunities to join wherever extra seats were available. The school has allegations to look down upon non-christian customs. In 2015, it's principal punished a 11 year old girl for wearing a tilak on her birthday.^[2]

Notable alumni

• Tabu - Famous Bollywood Actress
• Sushmita Sen - Miss Universe 1994 and Bollywood actress
• Ritu Dhillon - Famous NYC-trained abstract artist and designer
• Shanta Sinha - activist
• Diana Hayden - Miss World 1997, Model and Actress
• Tania Soni - Gladrags Mrs India 2003
• Vasuki Sunkavalli - Miss India Universe 2011

References

External links

• Official site