St. Lawrence High School, Kolkata

St. Lawrence High School is an English language Jesuit secondary school for boys in Kolkata, India, which has boarding and day students. The school was founded in January 1937 by Fr. Lawrence Rodriques, a Jesuit priest. Around 2,300 students are enrolled. It was named after Lawrence of Rome, a Spanish martyr, the patron saint of Fr Lawrence Rodrigues himself.

History

Originally named St. John Chrysotom High School, the current school was founded by Goan Jesuit priest Rev. Fr. Lawrence Rodriques in 1937 in an attempt to reduce congestion at nearby schools. The plot of land on which the school sits was owned by St. Xavier's College, Kolkata and was purchased from them with the permission of the Archbishop of Calcutta.

In the Second World War the school premises were occupied by the Royal Air Force. In 1945, the students got back the school only after paying a rent of 17,000 to the Government as directed by the then Viceroy of India, Lord Wavell.

Administrators

The first four administrators (January 1937 to February 1950) were Fr. Joseph Arimont, Fr. Charles Vrithoff, Fr. Louis Schillebeeckx, and Fr. Joseph Segers.

The School-in-Charges from 1937 until 1950, when the title Rector-cum-Headmaster was introduced.

The Rector-cum-Headmasters from 1950 to 2000 were Fr. August Cordeiro, Fr. Albert Wautier, Fr. T. Richir, Fr. A. Bruylants, Fr. Noel D’Souza, Fr. K. C. Jacob, Fr. Boris D’Santos, Fr. André Bruylants, Fr. C. Carvalho and Adrien Wavreil.

In October 2000, the Provincial Jesuit Superior of Calcutta (Kolkata) broke the post of Rector-cum-Headmaster into Rectors and Headmasters/Principals.

The Rectors from October 2000 onwards were Fr. Charles Pollet, Fr.S.Nallayil and Joseph de Sousa.

The Headmaster/Principals from October 2000 onwards were Fr. Adrien Wavreil, Fr. Anil Mitra, Fr. Benny Thomas and Fr. Sebastian Nallail,

The school today

Affiliation and performance

St. Lawrence High School was formerly affiliated with the University of Calcutta. Now it has both Secondary and Higher-Secondary Sections and sends up its students of Class X board for Madhyamik Pariksha under West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) and students of Class XII boards for Uccha-Madhyamik Pariksha under West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE)}.

The school maintains its ties to the Jesuit Society and is still administered by them. It always kept close ties with other Christian missionary schools, such as St. Xavier's College, Kolkata (brother school) and Carmel High School for Girls (sister school).

Classes

There are three levels of classes: primary, secondary, and higher-secondary, each with three sections or streams. The Medium of instruction is English.

Weekly assembly

Every week Primary has an assembly on Monday and Higher Secondary on Wednesday. But by rule after February '11, daily assembly is held for Secondary. The assembly is held everyday for the secondary section which starts sharp at 08:45. The Headmaster and all teachers attend the assembly escorting the students into the school hall. The assembly commences with a prayer song and ends with the national anthem.

School Hostel

The School Hostel is open only for Christian boys who are studying in Class VIII and above. The Jesuit Brothers run the hostel under the leadership of the Jesuit Senior Fathers. The administrators are Fr. Tapan Gomes and Fr. Kurien Emprayil, S.J. (Rector).

Notable alumni

• Utpal Dutt, Actor
• Kabir Suman, Singer
• Bedabrata Pain, Scientist and Filmmaker
• Anirban Banerjee, Scientist, winner of Nobel Laureate Signature Award 2007 for his work on human DNA ^[1]
• Saugata Roy, Politician & former Professor of Physics
• Ranadeb Bose, Cricketer
• Kalyan Dhall, Cricketer
• Anupam Basu, Computer Science Professor
• Soumen Sen, Judge, Calcutta High Court
• Kharaj Mukherjee, Actor
• Sirsha Roy, Cinematographer
• Kamaleshwar Mukherjee, Filmmaker
• Tathagata Roy, Politician, Engineer (Ex. Indian Railway Service), Author and former Professor at Jadavpur University
• Sanjay Purohit, CEO and Managing Director, EdgeVerve Systems Limited An Infosys Company ^[2]
• Siddhartha Mukherjee, EX-Vice President, APAC, Cognizant Technology Solutions ^[3]
• Debashis Chatterjee, President, Technology Solutions at Cognizant Technology Solutions ^[4]
• Siladitya Sen, HOD, Department of ECE, Heritage Institute of Technology,India....
• Sunit Joshi, Chief Manager (Finance), Indian Oil Corporation Ltd & Addl Director, MOP&NG (Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell)
• Nitin Kotak, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Washington DC
• Tapan Kumar Gupta, Ex- Chairman of BPSCL & Retd. Director (Finance), Damodar Valley Corporation

References