St. Lawrence's Boys School

St. Lawrence’s Boys' School in Karachi, Pakistan, owned by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Karachi, has been described as a reputable private institution providing an immaculate standard of education.^[1]

History

Soon after St. Lawrence’s Parish opened in 1929 two schools were started to serve the community.^[2]

The parish opened the Infant Jesus School managed by the Daughters of the Cross. It had nursery and primary school classes. The Jufelhurst school, although privately owned, had classes up to the Matriculation and Senior Cambridge levels. At the primary level it had boys as well as girls. ^[3]

Although both accepted boys at the primary level, a separate Parish school for boys from the primary level upwards was required. In December 1950 the Parish Priest Fr. Victorino Fernandes started St. Thomas’s School in a room of the Parish House. He changed the name to St. Lawrence’s Boys' School in 1951.^[4]

In 1954, Fr. Joshua Sterk became the principal and took the school a step forward, advancing to class IX at the beginning of scholastic year 1954-55. It was towards the end of the year that the school was visited for the first time by representatives of the Catholic Board of Education.^[5]

During the nationalisation of all schools and colleges in the country by the Government in August 1972, the School although originally on the nationalisation list was later removed from the list.^[6]

Principals

• Mgr Victorino Fernandes 1950 – 1951
• Fr. Francis de Souza was principal from 1951-54.^[7]
• Fr. Joshua Sterk OFM from 1954-68.
• Fr. Armando Trindade 1958 - 1962
• Fr. Canisius Mascarenhas was principal from 1962-70.
• Fr. Anthony Theodore Lobo was principal until 1970-74.
• Mrs. Ann D’Souza was principal from 1974-87.
• Fr. Ignatius Pinto 1987 - 1988
• Mrs. Myrtle Lobo was principal from 1988-92.
• Mr. Michael Alphonso 1992-2009.^[8]
• Mr. Vincent Thomas 2009-

The school promotes sports through participating in local events like the Askari Intermediate Inter-school cricket tournament at the KPI Ground on September 23, 2003.^[9]

In 2011 Basil Naeem of St. Lawrence's took out third prize in the 7th International Competition "Genius Champ 2010" in which more than 3,000 participants from all over the country competed.^[10]

Notable alumni

• Louis Mascarenhas, Visitator General of the Franciscan Order
• Akbar Agha, author, educator and former diplomat.
• Tarek Fatah, author and columnist at the Toronto Sun.
• Sikander Bakht cricketeer who played for Pakistan as a fast bowler.
• Colin Saldanha, Canadian Family physician.
• Owais Muzaffar Tappi, Former Local Bodies Minister, Politician, Businessman

References