St. Francis High School, formerly known as Government St. Francis High School is a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

Catholic school Catholic schools are pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered under the aegis or in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest religious, non-governmental school syste ...

for boys, located in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

, Pakistan. In spite of its name as a ''high school'', the school delivers a

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and

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school education.

History

The school was founded by the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

in 1842.AsiaNews 1 July 2014.
/ref> The school was taken over by the government in 1972. At the time, it was one of the best Urdu-medium schools in the city. With low fees and trained teachers, it had an enrollment of over a thousand students. It was the first Catholic school in Lahore. St Francis was one of 17 Catholic schools in Lahore. In 2004, 16 of these schools were denationalized and returned to the church. St Francis was not because the church was not able to prove that it owned the land the school was built on. In 2005, an application was filed in the

Lahore High Court The Lahore High Court () is based in Lahore, Pakistan. It was established as a high court on 21 March 1882. The Lahore High Court has jurisdiction over Punjab (Pakistan). The High Court's principal seat is in Lahore, but there are benches in th ...

for the return of the school to the church. The court ordered the District Coordination Office to resolve the matter within three months. No progress was made. In May 2013, the City District Government, Lahore, began cutting trees and demolished a boundary wall of the school.

Situation till November 2014

In 2014, the school's student population was a few hundred, the main building's ceiling had fallen in, and its grounds bore a desolate look. Few teachers made it to the school. Teachers and students of the school staged a protest on 12 December 2013, against the Education Department, demanding that the provincial government denationalise their school immediately. They said that Rs 1.6 million had been paid in 2004 for denationalising the school to the department but the department had not yet returned the school. The parish priest of the area, Fr Andrew Nisari, suggested that the main reason for the non-return of the school to the church is that the land mafia that wants control of the property has influence over the government. Christians in Pakistan have protested against the government of Punjab over the seizure of Christian property. The Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement reported that St Francis High School is the latest in a string of properties to have been taken over by the Punjab government. Meanwhile, some political leaders in Pakistan assured the Archbishop of Lahore,

Sebastian Francis Shaw Sebastian Francis Shaw (born 14 November 1957) is a Pakistani Roman Catholic archbishop. He was born in Padri Jo Goth, Sindh, Pakistan on 14 November 1957. He received his early education at Fatima High School and attended the Government De ...

, that they would respect the rights, property and status of Pakistan's Christian churches. The promise was made by Sardar Ayaz Sadiq,

Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan The Speaker of the National Assembly (Urdu: اسپیکر قومی اسمبلی); informally as Speaker National Assembly, is the presiding official of the National Assembly of Pakistan– a lower house of the Parliament of Pakistan. The offi ...

Denationalisation

On 5 November 2014, Fr. Nisari announced that the government of Punjab had decided to denationalise the school. The

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lahore The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Lahore is a Latin Metropolitan Archdiocese in Punjab province, Pakistan. Its episcopal seat is the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Lahore. History In 1594 the Mughal emperor Akbar invited some Cat ...

had already being paying the teachers' salaries for the last six months. He added that the building which was in ruins would be knocked down and a new one constructed. On 17 April 2015, ''Agenzia Fides'' confirmed that the government had returned it to the Church in November 2014.

Notable alumni

* A. Nayyar

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Francis High School, Lahore 1842 establishments in British India Educational institutions established in 1842 Boys' schools in Pakistan Catholic elementary and primary schools in Pakistan Catholic secondary schools in Pakistan Schools in Lahore

History

Situation till November 2014

Denationalisation

Notable alumni

See also

References