St. Patrick's Higher Secondary School
St. Patrick's School | |
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Sola Nobilitas Virtus Nobility is the sole Virtue | |
Location | |
Asansol, West Bengal, India | |
Information | |
Type | Private |
Established | 1891 |
Principal | Mr Nigel Dsouza |
Faculty | 60 |
Grades | KG-12 |
Number of students | 1,800 |
Color(s) | Green and Gold |
Athletics | Football, Cricket, Swimming, Volleyball, Basketball, Badminton, Table Tennis, Hockey. |
Affiliation | Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations |
School Site | www.spsasansol.com |
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]
In 1762 Edmund Ignatius Rice was born into an affluent farming family in Callan, County Kilkenny, Ireland. Aged 17, he showed so much promise in his uncle's firm that soon the reins of the family business were handed over to him. His material success was paralleled by charitable activities and spiritual growth. His faith was tested with the death of his wife during childbirth. Faced with the responsibility of raising a motherless daughter, he saw the plight of other destitute children living on the streets. He decided to provide care for these street waifs. He embarked upon the task of rehabilitating boys who had become accustomed to life in the streets, and found it difficult to conform to schooling.
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 Organisation
- SPAAA, St. Patrick's Asansol Alumni Association is the Alumni Association for St.Patrick's School, Asansol.
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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)
- Sudhangsu Chakravarty ’42 (Retired Brigadier of the Indian Army, had a one-sided debate with Mahatma Gandhi)
- Chander Govindaswamy '53 (Retired Major General of the Indian Army)
- 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.
- Malay Mukherjee '63 (Group Chief Executive Officer and Director, Zamin Ferrous Limited, former COO of Mittal Steel and board member of ArcelorMittal)
- S.Talukdar '67 (Former Group Executive President and CFO of Hindalco Industries Ltd)
- Harish Chander Sharma '75 (Recipient of the Police Medal for Meritorious Service, awarded by the President of India)
- Debasis Mazumdar '79 (Head of UK Ship Register, Department for Transport, Govt. of UK at Maritime & Coastguard Agency)
- Samir Tiwari '83 (Director of the Bollywood movie, Mr Joe B. Carvalho)
- Kaushik Chatterjee '84 (Group CFO of Tata Steel, called "one of India's best CFOs" by Business Today)
- Partha Pratim Chakraborty, Director of IIT Kharagpur 2013–Present