St. Thomas (SPG) Boys' High School

St. Thomas (SPG) Boys' High School is one of many old schools in the city of Secunderabad in Telangana, India. The school is a few minutes' walk from the Secunderabad railway station.

SPG stands for "Society for the Propagation of Gospel" which was renamed "Church of South India" in the 1960s.

The school was established in the 1850s as an adjunct to the Protestant Church which is located a few hundred yards from the school.In the 1950s the Principal of the school also functioned as correspondent (manager) of the church and was provided accommodation on church premises. The church grounds had a small dormitory for boys and living quarters for the warden. The grounds were available as playground for the school's students. In later years the association between the church and the school appears to have become weaker and the Principal lived elsewhere in the city.

A girls school by the same name offering instruction from class 1 to 8 was located near Manohar cinema a few hundred meters from the boys School. The girls school admitted boys also up to class 4. Boys could transfer for class 5 to the boys school.

The medium of instruction is English. (In the 1950s and 1960s the medium of instruction was both Telugu and English.)

It is one of the few schools in Telangana that provides an option to register Tamil as the first language. (This option was available to students in the English medium classes and for Tamil language classes the students would move to a different room). Due to the preponderance of Defence and Railway installations in Secunderabad, there was a large Tamil speaking population and this school catered to its needs.

The School had one of the best Football Team in the twin city. The N C C in the school was also one of the best in the twin cities and on 15th August and on 26th January every year special parade of the three wings was held, and was witnessed by many people, we pass that way, were made to stand and watch the parade.

The standard of education in the school was one of the best in twin cities till about 1972 or so, after that due to some politics, and other vested Interest in some people spoiled the school and today it is history as the structure is pulled down and its premises is used as a parking lot for a nearby hotel.

As a student who studied in this school, I am very sad to see the disappearance of the school altogether from the surface of the world.