St. Paul's School, Darjeeling
St Paul's School is one of India's oldest and most pre-eminent private schools ("public school" in British terminology ) , known for its academic tradition and alumni. It is located in Jalapahar, Darjeeling, West Bengal, India. It is often referred to as "the Eton of India". Located at 7500 feet above sea level, it is the highest public school in the world.
History
In the year 1823, John William Ricketts, a prominent Anglo-Indian leader from Calcutta concieved the idea of a school to meet the educataion needs of the growing British and Anglo-Indian community in Calcutta. On the 1st Of May in 1823, "The Parental Academic Institution" was established on Park Street in central Calcutta.
In 1846, the school was renamed St. Paul's School by Bishop Wilson, who had associated the school to the St.Paul's Cathedral in Calcutta. During 1863, the school was in difficulties and after an investigation, Bishop Cotton decided to shift the school to Jalapahar in Darjeeling. In 1864, the school reopened on its new location with thirty-one students under the rectorship of Rev. J. C. Nesfield. Since then, the school has seen its number swell to over seven hundred students currently. The current school buildings were not the location of the initial school and were later additions as the school expanded.
A number of its students fought for the British in both world war 1 and World War II and later on for India in her wars.
Location
The school in situated in Darjeeling and shares Jalapahar estate with an Indian Army Cantonment. It is claimed to be the highest public school in the world, located at 7500 feet above sea level. The famous Kanchenjunga mountain range forms the scenic backdrop to the school. The school is isolated from Darjeeling and in effect the rest of the world. Vast expanse of wild land and greenery surrounds the campus.
System
The school is primarily a boys only boarding school with the occasional girls and dayscholars who mostly are the children of teachers or staff members. It still follows much of the British boarding school traditions and prides itself in its British past.
The school is divided into three wings, the primary wing - class 1 to class 5, junior wing - class 6 to class 8 and the senior wing - class 9 to class 12 or the sixth form. Each of the wings are divded into four houses -
Tenzing, Hunt, Hillary and Everest in the Primamry Wing Cable, Westcott, Anderson and Betten in the Junior Wing Clive, Hastings, Lawrence and Havelock in the Senior Wing.
Each of the wings is isolated, primary wing much more so, from each other. The Primary Wing is located far down the hill from the other two wings and has its separate kitchen and Dining Hall. The Junior and Senior wings share the same kitchen and dining hall but have meals at different times.
Culture
The students are referrd to as Paulites and the alumini as Old Paulites. The environment the children grow up in is under strict control and interaction with the outside is limited to exeats or town leaves twice a month. A limited amount of pocket money is allowed. The school lays great emphasis and pride in the uniform, on visits outside of the school campus all students are required to dress in prescribed suits and carry umbrellas. The student government is headed by the school captain and he is assisted by school prefects, the junior and primary wings have their own monitors. Great emphasis is laid on seniority and respect for seniors. Traditionally the sixth form or class 12 students enjoy a number of advantages over the rest of the students.
All the students must take part in the sports played, which are seasonal. The major sports are football, cricket, basketball, hockey, marathon, athletics, volleyball, squash and Eton Fives. Besides this the school has an active dramatic and music culture and debating socity. The school publishes a fortnightly magzine called The Paulite and an annual St. Paul's School Chronicle, besides this a Calcutta based Old Paulites Association publishes a magzine for the alumini.
Blackies is the school canteen, which got its name from the fact that it was run by Indians when the student population was primarily white British, although racist and derogatory, the name has stuck and its history forgotten.
Alumini
The Old Paulites Association is a large community spread out all across the world and it holds regular meetings in England , North America and India. It has a very vibrant cyber home in [www.zubin.com/paulites] . There have been many famous Paulites over the years, but naming a few would not do the others justice.
Bollywood
The school has been featured in a number of Bollywood and Bengali language films, Mera Naam Joker by Raj Kapoor and the recent hit Main Hoon Na featuring Shahrukh Khan are a couple of them.