St. George's School, Chennai

St George's Anglo- Indian Higher Secondary School was founded in 1715 as the Military (later Madras) Male Orphan Asylum and is one of the oldest schools in the world and the oldest in India.^[1] It is affiliated to the Anglo-Indian Board of Education.

St. George's Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School
St Georges School Chennai
Address
738 EVR Salai Shenoy Nagar, Chennai , Tamil Nadu , 600 030 India
Coordinates	13°04′36″N 80°13′55″E / 13.07667°N 80.23194°E / 13.07667; 80.23194
Information
Type	Public school
Motto	Trust in god and do the right
Founded	1715; 309 years ago (1715)
Director	Dr. G.K.Francis
Headmaster	Mr. N. George
Teaching staff	38
Average class size	40
Classes offered	K-12
Language	English
Colour(s)	Red, White and Navy Blue
Song	Praise my soul
Nickname	St. George's
Affiliation	Anglo Indian Board for Secondary Education

It is situated in the heart of the city in Shenoy Nagar, a bustling area in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. The school has red brick buildings on a land area of 21 acres (85,000 m²), with a boarding house, dormitory, kitchen and play grounds. The school provides education to over 1500 children from nursery up to the +2 level. It has a library, NCC and a computer centre. There are 36 staff members led by the Head Master and the Correspondent.

Hockey

St George's has one of the best school hockey teams in Chennai. It has also produced many players who have represented Tamil Nadu and India at various levels.^[2]

Mr. Jason, the hockey coach of the school, trained the team. He had trained the school team for more than 28 years and his legacy lives on after his sad demise in 2012. St. Georges school had the best hockey team in Chennai and were consistent winners for years together in the sub junior, junior, senior and super senior categories under his coaching. The school has no sports activity and most of the play area have been transformed into rental parking and wedding reception centers.

Library

St George's library has rare books from the 18th century to date.

Heritage Structure

The chapel and the classroom block of the school are part of CMDA's 400 recognized heritage structures in the city.^[3]

Controversies

Child Sex Abuse Case

In 18 June 2009 there were news reports that a UK volunteer was "misbehaving" with students. A four member UK detective team probed this but the evidences started to go missing including the whistle-blower, victims and videotape statements.^{[4] [5]}

Fee structure increase

In June 2012 there were news reports of increase in fee structure which was not in conformance with the fee structure set by Anglo-Indian Board, further to this there were protest by parents which resulted in ten parents being arrested and later released by Chennai Police. It's confirmed that the fees collected in St. George's is the lowest in all Anglo Indian schools in India.^[6]

Public events

There were further allegations about school premises being misused for public events and other private events (including movie audio releases), although school principal R. Paul Victor Samuel maintained that these allegations were baseless.^[6]

On 6 September 2018 the Hon’ble High Court of Madras passed an ad-interim injunction against the school restraining them from carrying out any business activities / commercial activities in its playground / vacant site in WMP.No.21682/2018 pending disposal of the writ petition WP.No.18737/2018.

Renovation of old structure

The Manorial Conway House, a century old building in the school campus was renovated and resulted in concerns from heritage activists. The school correspondent Mr. G.K. Francis clarified that part of the building had to be renovated since it was not safe for the children. He also clarified that only the Chapel was part of the heritage structure listed by CMDA and others are not and does not require permission from CMDA.^[3]

Tercentenary celebrations

 

Tercentenary Sporting activities

St George's school's tercentenary celebrations were held between 23 April 2015 and 25 April 2015, the celebrations included sporting activities including old and new students, a carnival and a Christmas dance.^[7] There was also an on-stage performance from the band called "Second Coming" (St George's alumni).^[8]

These celebrations (called "Georgian reunion") brought many old students back to the campus, the sporting activities included hockey, football and cricket for men and throw ball for women.

References

1. . The Hindu. 3 March 2003. Archived from the original on 18 June 2003. Retrieved 8 November 2008.
2. "Only Anglo Indian School to continue hockey culture". The Hindu. 7 January 2010. Archived from the original on 11 April 2013. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
3. Soman, Sandhya; John, Ekatha Ann (4 October 2012). "Chennai's oldest school demolishes portion of historic building for renovation". The Times of India. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
4. "Whistle-blower, victims missing in child abuse case | Chennai News - Times of India".
5. "Child sexual abuse: Children's photos, DVDS found | Chennai News - Times of India".
6. "Parents accuse school of overcharging". The Hindu. 14 June 2012. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
7. Alexander, Deepa (15 July 2014). "Three hundred years of fortitude". Retrieved 16 November 2019.
8. . Archived from the original on 19 May 2015.