Since it admitted its first batch of boys in1869, this Jesuit promoted kg-class X St. Xavier’s High School Mumbai has produced an illustrious roll call of alumni. Today it is struggling to maintain its reputation
“I have inherited a long tradition of crafting the educational process as a holistic formation in a positive climate and I try to adhere to the excellent standards that have been maintained for over a century in this institution,” says Fr. Baptist Pinto, principal of the St. Xavier’s High School Mumbai which has been repeatedly adjudged by the Delhi-based weekly Outlook as the best Maharashtra state education (SSC) board affiliated school in Mumbai. Established in1869 by the selfless missionaries of the Society of Jesus, aka the Jesuits, St. Xavier’s High School Mumbai is one of 208 schools promoted across South Asia by this 450-year-old Catholic congregation for whom education remains a preferential apostolate.
“In keeping with the Jesuit ideal of education, this school accords special care to developing the imaginative, affective and creative dimensions of students,” says Pinto a maths graduate of St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, who took charge of St. Xavier’s High, a boys-only (kg-class X) day school with an aggregate enrollment of 2,430 students instructed by 74 teachers, in 2000.
Once housed on a sprawling site, St. Xavier’s High suffered a carve-up of its campus in the 1960s when a large plot allotted to it was taken over for civil defence. Still, the school enjoys an extensive playground fringed by trees and separated from the college campus by an open-air public auditorium and a large building housing the State Vocational Guidance Board.
The roll call of school alumni is illustrious. All the scions of the Godrej and Mafatlal business families studied here as did Mohammedali Currim Chagla (first Indian chief justice of the Bombay high court and Union minister for Education); cancer specialist Dr. Ernest Borges; bureaucrat J. B. D’Souza; Archbishop Simon Pimenta; scientist Dr. Homi Sethna; judges Bhaktavar Lentin and Madhu Kania; super cop Julio Ribeiro; architect Charles Correa; legal eagle Soli Sorabjee; former army chief of staff Gen. Sunith Rodrigues; internationally renowned economist Jagdish Bhagwati; banker Deepak Parekh; cricket maestro Sunil Gavaskar and renowned artist Francis Newton Souza, who was expelled for chronic absenteeism.
Pinto admits that over the past three-four decades the school’s social profile has changed and the city’s haute bourgeoisie now enroll their offspring in more elite institutions. “Currently most of our pupils are drawn from the immediate neighbourhood and since this is a poor neighbourhood we get a grant-in-aid for the secondary section, which enables us to charge very modest tuition fees. This, in the ill-considered opinion of some, lowers academic standards,” says Pinto.
However he is happy with St. Xavier’s academic record. For two years in a row, Outlook (December 10, 2001 and December 16, 2002) ranked it among the city’s top four, and best among SSC schools. In 2003, the school achieved a 100 percent pass result in the class X SSC examination after a gap of 37 years. And the results of the last academic year (182 St. Xavier’s students wrote the state board’s class X exam) were almost as good: 99.45 percent.
The school began its illustrious innings in the second half of the 19th century, an era of momentous change and development for the port city. The Roman Catholic bishop of Bombay, Anastasius Hartmann requested the clergy of the Society of Jesus in Rome for help and a group of five priests arrived in Bombay in 1853.
The very first school they established was St. Mary’s School (at Mazagaon) in 1857. Following the bishop’s wish that a school be opened in the Fort area, the priests enrolled the first batch of 115 boys on March 19, 1860 into the “Kalbadevi School”. In 1866, following a land grant from the Bombay Presidency government, the priests established the school on its present premises. The newly christened St. Xavier’s High School, admitted its first batch on July 23, 1869.
Today given the radical change in the social profile of its students and dependence upon government grants to meet its staff salaries bill, the school’s management accords great emphasis to teacher motivation and training. “An ideal teacher is an integrated individual- intellectually, emotionally and spiritually. Compassion, creativity and commitment to excellence are qualities which we attempt to instill in our teachers. Unfortunately the state government’s policy of appointing shikshan sevaks or undergrad diploma holders as teachers on a mere Rs.3,000 per month forces grant-in-aid schools to engage vernacular teachers lacking fluency in English. More qualified B.Ed trained teachers are quick to secure employment in private schools where they get more than double this wage,” says Pinto.
Nevertheless despite a chronic funds crunch, over the past century the school has been able to build a strong enabling infrastructure for students. It boasts its own computer lab with more than 30 PCs, and physical training, games and sports facilities. Few are aware that as far back as 1874, the school had cricket clubs (along denominational lines as was the prevailing practice then), with Hindu, Parsi and Christian teams and sports day has been an annual feature since 1900.
“Every year over 600 students apply for the 180 seats that become available in primary school and it is quite a nightmare both for parents and our admission committee to select the most suitable candidates,” says Pinto, pointing out with quiet pride that in extra-curricular and sports activities, the school has attained an all-time high reputation.
An indicator of the high premium Xavier High’s management places on holistic extra-curricular education is the pride of place accorded to the school’s unique Natural History Museum, the largest in western India after the Chhatrapathi Shivaji Sanghralaya (aka Prince of Wales Museum). Spread over corridors on four floors of the school, the museum houses over 2,300 bird specimens, 250 varieties of bird eggs and 75 bats, amphibians, reptiles and mammal specimens.
Looking ahead into the near future, the school management’s emphasis will be on holistic learning, teacher motivation and training and infrastructure upgradation. “Each floor will have movable audio-visual equipment next year. I would like to start media education and encourage the use of appropriate technology to enhance learning effectiveness. Moreover, teachers will be specially trained to address the learning difficulties of students. In short, we’ll continue the tradition of providing developmental and transformative education to our students. After all, we have a long tradition and reputation to maintain,” says Pinto.
Admission & fees
The process of admission into the kindergarten section of St. Xavier’s School will begin in February, 2006 and end on April 30. The age criterion for admission is four years for higher kindergarten. Admission into all other classes is on the basis of a pre-admission test and a valid transfer certificate.
Tuition fee (per month): Classes I-IV: Rs.450; Classes V-X: Rs.5-10 per month
For further details contact the Principal, St. Xavier’s School, Lokmanya Tilak Marg, Mumbai 400 002. Tel: 91-22-2262113; Telefax: 91-22-2703644
Ronita Torcato (Mumbai)
Also read: India’s Best Boys Day Schools
