St. Xavier's School, Durgapur

St. Xavier's School, Durgapur, is a school in Durgapur, West Bengal, India. The school was established in 1963 and is managed by Headmaster Reverend Father Zenith William, S.J. Rev. Fr. A.Wautier S.J. from Belgium was the chief architect in bringing the school to completion.

History

In 1960, Mr. Bell, the then GM of Hindustan Steel Ltd. (now known as Durgapur Steel Plant), requested the Jesuit provincial Fr. R. Anthoine to establish a school in Durgapur. He offered a small plot of land at the crossing of Sarat Chandra Avenue and Kalidas Road for the purpose. However, finding it inadequate, the Provincial declined the offer.

A few years later, Mr. A.N. Lahiri, GM of HEC (later known as MAMC) contacted Frs. Van Exem and Drugman in Asansol and offered a shed in the Ophthalmic Factory for a school. St. Xavier’s School, Durgapur was first established there in May 1963.

On 14 September 1963 the school was transferred to a small Primary School building in the HEC (MAMC) Township. The Jesuit Provincial declared that since no land was made available for St. Xavier’s School, Durgapur, the Jesuits would be bound to close the school before taking the responsibility of higher classes, and leave Durgapur.

In mid 1964, Mr.L.Donnelly, the deputy Managing Director of AVB contacted the provincial and informed that if the Jesuits agreed, he would request the West Bengal Government to hand over 10 acres (40,000 m²) of land leased to AVB for a school run by the Jesuit Fathers.

Meanwhile, in 1964 the Sisters of Apostolic Carmel opened a school for girls. In time, when the sisters raised their school to a high school, St. Xavier’s became a boy’s-only school around 1969, until then St. Xavier’s had both boys and girls.

In January 1965, a three-year contract was signed between the Calcutta Jesuit Province and the MAMC authorities to run a Bengali medium school, the then High School in MAMC Township, fully sponsored by the MAMC concern. A few days before the expiry of the contact, the Jesuit Provincial was informed that the contract would not be renewed by the MAMC authorities.

On 18 February 1966 the foundation stone of the present St. Xavier’s building was laid by Dr Dharmasey M. Khatau, Chairman, AVB, on a plot of land adjacent to AVB Colony (a residential township for AVB employees), leased by the government of West Bengal to the Calcutta Province of Jesuits for 997 years. In January 1967, St. Xavier’s School was transferred from the MAMC Primary School to the new and permanent building at AVB Colony - which was later known as ABL Townahip.

Fr. J. Dubois was the first Headmaster at the time of the opening of this English Medium School. (The present headmaster and prefect are Fr. Zenith William SJ and Fr.Thamacin respectively)

Concurrently to the main school in MAMC and AVB, a primary school-part of the main school- was started in Hindustan Steel Ltd. (later called DSP), in 1964 in Tagore House. After a few months, the school was transferred to a Primary School building of DSP at Lala Lajpat Rai Road. In 1971, the school was transferred to their own building at Mirabai Road.

In 2001, on the expiry of the 30 years lease, the DSP authorities demanded a large sum of money for further lease, and the Jesuits decided to move out of DSP after a five years grace period. The then Headmaster tried his best to get a piece of land near the Bidhan Nagar close to the present main school for relocation of the primary wing so as to separate the secondary and eventually a 10+2 section, but this proved futile. In 2004 June, a new wing was begun in the main campus and in 2006 May the Primary wing from Mirabai section was shifted to the new building.

St. Xavier’s School Durgapur has classes up to std. X with a preparatory class(KG)along with an upcoming std.XI and XII to begin by 2013. With the exception of class 10, each class has four sections, with a classroom for each section. Previously there used to be a second campus on Mirabai Road as a part of the primary section but a few years back the whole campus was in ABL township. It is an English Medium School and affiliated to the Council for Indian Certificate of Secondary Education, New Delhi. Admissions to KG are in December every year; admissions to classes 1 to 8 in March as and when vacancies arise. The academic session is from April to March.

Campus

The school campus covers over 160000 square metres of land, with more than one third of it occupied by dense greenery, consisting of deciduous and evergreen tropical trees. The school has a football ground, an auditorium, a badminton, volleyball, a basketball court, a multigym, a meditation room as well as a table tennis court and ample unbuilt space.

Curriculum

The school follows the ICSE syllabus. The subjects include Science, Maths, English, and has the provision of Hindi and Bengali under the category of languages. The extra subject which is taught is Computer Applications. The school has computer labs. The school also has introduced elocution, debate, quiz, essay writing, painting etc. Co-curricualr activities include cultural committee, sports and games committee, quiz club, English literary club, Bengali literary club, computer club, Nature club and Hindi literary club. Computer is taught as a separate subject, taking part in the Inter Jesuit Elocution and Extempore Competition every year.

The school will celebrate its golden jubilee in 2013 and will be upgraded to class XI and XII.

Extracurricular activities

St.Xavier's has a school football team that participates in the Inter School Football Tournament of Durgapur every year.It also has an Elocution team which participates in elocution competitions and a school choir.

See also

• Jesuit Institutions

References

External links

• Official website