La Martiniere Boys (LMB), Kolkata is a boys’ day school in Kolkata, West Bengal affiliated with the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), New Delhi. The school admitted its first batch of 50 students in 1836, and over the years has built an enviable reputation across the country. The school’s unconventional name has been derived from its founder Major General Claude Martin (1735-1800), a French merchant-adventurer who made his fortune in India under the powerful patronage of the East India Company. Today, Martin’s legacy is administered under the supervision of the Bishop of Kolkata, who serves as the ex-officio president of the school’s board of governors.
The distinguishing characteristic of LMB is indeed the balanced, holistic K-12 education which the school (affiliated with the Delhi-based CISCE) provides its 2,850 male students instructed by a faculty of 104 handpicked and selected teachers.
The sprawling 11 acre school campus is sited in south Kolkata on Loudon street and boasts a school building built in 1836, notable for its European classical architecture, with the round chapel ringed by Corinthian pillars at the heart of it.
The school campus hosts spacious classrooms, a well-stocked library, facilities for all field games — hockey, cricket and football — as also for swimming and athletics. Moreover, LMB is one of the few schools countrywide where rugby and boxing are vigorously practiced.
The school is affiliated with the CISCE and prepares students for the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) and the Indian School Certificate (ISC) examinations at the end of class X and XII respectively. The schools offer English-medium education from nursery up to the higher secondary level and maintain a healthy teacher-student ratio of 1:27.
Extracurricular:
LMB promotes extra-curricular activities such as debates, elocution and quiz and sports such as football, swimming, cricket, hockey, athletics, basketball, boxing, and table tennis are encouraged. The school also boasts a western-music orchestra and a pipes-and-drums band.
Students are encouraged to participate in English language dramatics and debating clubs — “LMB’s forte” — as also to learn western classical music, train for the school orchestra and enroll in trekking and nature clubs and the International Award for Young Persons (formerly the Duke of Edinburgh Awards) programme.
John Rafi (principal)
Admission for nursery is open in the last week of November/December, while entry into other classes is based on vacancies.
Students are encouraged to participate in English language dramatics and debating clubs — “LMB’s forte” — as also to learn western classical music, train for the school orchestra and enroll in trekking and nature clubs and the International Award for Young Persons (formerly the Duke of Edinburgh Awards) programme.
The school is ranked #5 among boys’ day schools in India by the EducationWorld India School Rankings 2020-21.
Being a day school, La Martiniere for Boys, Kolkata does not provide accommodation facilities.