Sree Rama Varma High School, officially Sree Rama Varma Govt Model Higher Secondary School and popularly known as SRV High School) is the largest government-owned school in

Kochi Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South Ca ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. It was founded by the Kochi Royal family as the English Elementary School in 1845. The school was later named after King Rama Varma of the founding Kochi Royal family. After the independence of India from British rule in 1947, and the reorganization of the states of India in 1956, the school was handed over to the

Government of Kerala Government of Kerala is the subnational government of the Indian state of Kerala. The government is led by a chief minister, who selects all the other ministers. The chief minister and their most senior ministers belong to the supreme decisio ...

, which now owns and operates it.

History

In 1845, the school was founded as the English Elementary School, located in what is now the campus of

Maharaja's College, Ernakulam The Maharaja's College is a government college of higher education located in Kochi, Kerala. Established in 1875, it is one of the oldest colleges in India. Located in the heart of the city, the college is spread over a campus of on the ba ...

. It was renamed as Raja's School in 1865, and was upgraded to a college in 1875. Later, the school was separated from the college, was moved to its present location, and was renamed Sree Rama Varma High School.

Organization

Sree Rama Varma High School offers curricula for grades 1 to 12. The school is divided into four sections: Lower Primary (grades 1 to 4), Upper Primary (grades 5 to 7), High School (grades 8 to 10), and Higher Secondary (grades 11 and 12). The different sections have separate, though adjoining, campuses as well as separate administration.

Architecture

The architecture of the school showcases the British architectural styling of colonial Kerala. It is a two-story building built using primarily lime and

teak Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters ( pan ...

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin ...

. The floor and roof utilize

terracotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terra ...

tiles.

ISRO Space Museum

Donated by the

Indian Space Research Organization The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO; ) is the national space agency of India, headquartered in Bengaluru. It operates under the Department of Space (DOS) which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India, while the Chairman ...

(ISRO) during the term of the former chairman

Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan (born 24 October 1940) is an Indian space scientist who headed the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) from 1994 to 2003. He is presently Chancellor of Central University of Rajasthan and NIIT University. He ...

(a former student of the school), the school contains a Space Museum, which showcases the ISRO's space research and educates students in

space science Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually conside ...

. The museum displays miniature replicas of ISRO's satellites as well as satellite launch vehicles. The exhibits educate students on various kinds of satellites and launch techniques, namely the ISRO's

Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is an expendable medium-lift launch vehicle designed and operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It was developed to allow India to launch its Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites ...

, geosynchronous satellites, and related technologies and applications such as

remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring information about Ear ...

. It was inaugurated by former President of India Dr.

A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam (; 15 October 193127 July 2015) was an Indian aerospace scientist and statesman who served as the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007. He was born and raised in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu and studied phy ...

on 19 December 2006.

Notable alumni

* Krishnaswami Kasturirangan, space scientist, member of the Planning Commission, former chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization *

Changampuzha Krishna Pillai Changampuzha Krishna Pillai (Malayalam: ചങ്ങമ്പുഴ കൃഷ്ണപിള്ള; 10 October 1911 – 17 June 1948) was a celebrated Malayalam poet from Kerala, India, known for his elegy ''Ramanan'' (Malayalam: രമണന ...

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry ( Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam wa ...

poet, known for his pastoral elegy ''Ramanan'' *

Swami Chinmayananda Swami Chinmayananda Saraswati (born Balakrishna Menon; 8 May 1916 – 3 August 1993) was a Hindu spiritual leader and a teacher. In 1951, he founded Chinmaya Mission, a worldwide nonprofit organisation, in order to spread the knowledge of Advaita ...

, founder of

Chinmaya Mission The Chinmaya Mission is a Hindu religious and spiritual organization engaged in the dissemination of Vedanta, the science of the self as expounded in the Vedas, particularly the Upanishads, and other Hindu scriptures such as the Bhagavad G ...

N. S. Madhavan N. S. Madhavan (born 9 September 1948) is an Indian writer of Malayalam literature. Known for his novel, ''Lanthan Batheriyile Luthiniyakal'' (Litanies of the Dutch Battery) and a host of short stories such as ''Higuita'', ''Thiruthu'', ''Chulai ...

, writer *

G. N. Ramachandran Gopalasamudram Narayanan Ramachandran, or G.N. Ramachandran, FRS (8 October 1922 – 7 April 2001) was an Indian physicist who was known for his work that led to his creation of the Ramachandran plot for understanding peptide structure. He wa ...

, scientist, physicist, and

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

nominee *

K. V. Thomas K. V. Thomas (born 10 May 1946), in full Kuruppasserry Varkey Thomas, is an Indian politician from Kumbalangi in Ernakulam district, Kerala, India. He represented Ernakulam Constituency from 2009 to 2019. He was the Minister of State in ...

, former member of Parliament *

V. R. Krishna Iyer Justice Vaidyanathapuram Rama Krishna Iyer (15 November 1915 – 4 December 2014) was an Indian judge who became a pioneer of judicial activism. He pioneered the legal-aid movement in the country. Before that, he was a state minister and poli ...

, former supreme court justice, critic, independent supporter of leftist movements *

Aashiq Abu Aashiq Abu (born 12 April 1978) is an Indian film director, producer, actor, and distributor, who works in Malayalam cinema. He is best known for his films such as '' Daddy Cool'' (2009), ''Salt N' Pepper'' (2011), '' 22 Female Kottayam'' (201 ...

, film director and producer best known for his work in Malayalam cinema *

Amal Neerad Amal Neerad (born on 7 October 1976) is an Indian film director, cinematographer and producer who mainly works in Malayalam Cinema. He attended the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, Kolkata (first batch). He was awarded the National F ...

, filmmaker *

C. V. Subramanian Chirayathumadom Venkatachalier Subramanian (11 August 1924–5 February 2016), popularly known as CVS, was an Indian mycologist, taxonomist and plant pathologist, known for his work on the classification of Fungi imperfecti, a group of fungi c ...

, mycologist, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize recipient * Justice Shaji P. Chaly, judge of

Kerala High Court The High Court of Kerala is the highest court in the Indian state of Kerala and the Union territory of Lakshadweep. It is located in Kochi. Drawing its powers under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the High Court has the power to issu ...

* V. Viswanatha Menon, Minister of Finance in Kerala

References