Welham Girls' School is a private

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of " room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exte ...

for girls located in Dehradun, Uttarakhand,

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 ...

History

The school was established in 1957. Welham was named after the little

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

village from where its founder, H.S. Oliphant hailed. A retired English headmistress, Oliphant started

Welham Boys' School Welham Boys' School is a boarding school located in Dehradun, India. The school is a residential school for boys and is affiliated with CBSE. It is ranked amongst the top five boys' boarding schools in the country as per the Education World ran ...

in 1937. She was struck by

The Lawrence School, Sanawar The Lawrence School, Sanawar, is the oldest Co-Ed boarding school in the world near Solan city. Established in 1847, its history, influence, and wealth have made it one of the most prestigious and oldest schools in Asia. It is located in the ...

and lack of schools of similar quality for the girls around Dehradun. She acquired a palatial estate called Nasreen adjacent to

to start a small boarding school for girls. There were no funds, staff, or school buildings. Oliphant recruited another retired English woman, Grace Mary Linnel, to run the boarding school for girls. Linnel became the founder principal of Welham Girls School, which started in 1957. She was later awarded a Padma Shri for her contribution to education of girls. Welham Girls’ High School, as it was known then, established itself as a full-fledged boarding school. From its initial crop of 10 students, it has grown to over 550 students.

Extracurricular activities

The school hosts competitive events such as sports, craft, dramatics, music, dance and photography.

Sports

These include basketball, hockey, swimming, badminton, lawn tennis, athletics, table tennis, karate, shooting and aerobics. The basketball team has won numerous tournaments over the years and represented Uttrakhand at the national level. Several students have been chosen for the India camp as well.

The Duke of Edinburgh's Award The Duke of Edinburgh's Award (commonly abbreviated DofE) is a youth awards programme founded in the United Kingdom in 1956 by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, that has since expanded to 144 nations. The awards recognise adolescents and young ...

scheme is a programme that the school offers to its students.

Publications

The school newspapers, ''News and Views'' in English and ''Kshitij'' in Hindi, are published every month, as well as a science magazine, ''Delphic''. A technology-based publication, 'The Tech-Key' is also published 4 times a year. It is the newest addition in school, having started in April 2019. Two issues of the magazine ''The Wall'' are published each year. Additionally, the school publishes an English literary and art publication, ''Chrysalis'', twice a term. The ''School Annual'' is published in summer each year.

Notable alumnae

File:Brinda Karat.jpg,

Brinda Karat Brinda Karat (born 17 October 1947) is an Indian politician, elected to the Rajya Sabha as a Communist Party of India (Marxist) member on 11 April 2005 for West Bengal. In 2005, she became the first woman member of the CPI(M) Politburo. She ...

, Politician File:Kareena at LFW16.jpg,

Kareena Kapoor Kareena Kapoor Khan (; ''née'' Kapoor; born 21 September 1980) is an Indian actress who appears in Hindi films. She is the daughter of actors Randhir Kapoor and Babita, and the younger sister of actress Karisma Kapoor. Noted for playing a va ...

, Actor File:Meira Kumar.jpg,

Meira Kumar Meira Kumar (born 31 March 1945) is an Indian politician and former diplomat. A member of the Indian National Congress, she was the Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment from 2004 to 2009, the Minister of Water Resources for a brief per ...

, Speaker of the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-p ...

File:Tavleen Singh - India Economic Summit 2011.jpg,

Tavleen Singh Tavleen Singh (born 1950) is an Indian columnist, political reporter and writer. Biography Singh was born in Mussoorie in 1950 in a Jat Sikh family. She studied at the Welham Girls School. She did a short-term Journalism course from the New D ...

, Journalist File:Deepa Mehta (Giza Eskubideen Zinemaldiaren Saria - Premio Festival Derechos Humanos) (33879458355).jpg,

Deepa Mehta Deepa Mehta, (; born 1 January 1950) is an Indian-born Canadian film director and screenwriter, best known for her Elements Trilogy, ''Fire'' (1996), ''Earth'' (1998), and ''Water'' (2005). ''Earth'' was submitted by India as its official ...

, Film director

Politics

, ex-presidential candidate and First Lady speaker of the

, Member of Parliament,

Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxist–Leninist communist political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in terms of membership and electoral seats and one of the na ...

* Subhashini Ali, activist, president

All India Democratic Women's Association All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) is a women's organisation committed to achieving democracy, equality and women's emancipation. It has an organizational presence in 23 states in India, with a current membership of more than 11 m ...

(AIDWA) *

Priyanka Gandhi Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (''née'' Gandhi; born 12 January 1972) is an Indian politician and the general secretary of the All India Congress Committee in charge of Uttar Pradesh. She is the daughter of former Prime minister of India Rajiv Gandhi ...

, politician * Malavika Rajkotia, lawyer and activist * Neera Yadav, IAS officer * Renuka Chowdhury, MP

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

* Pooja Elangbam, IAS Officer

Film

Nitya Mehra Nitya is a given name. Notable people with the name include: Hinduism * Nitya, a category of being used in the logical framework of Vedanta * Nitya-samsarins, as classified by Shri Madhvacharya, are souls which are eternally transmigrating * Nitya ...

, director and screenwriter *

Kareena Kapoor Khan Kareena Kapoor Khan (; ''née'' Kapoor; born 21 September 1980) is an Indian actress who appears in Hindi films. She is the daughter of actors Randhir Kapoor and Babita, and the younger sister of actress Karisma Kapoor. Noted for playing a var ...

, actress *

, film director * Advaita Kala , author and screenwriter * Priya Seth, cinematographer *

Alankrita Shrivastava Alankrita Shrivastava is an Indian screenwriter, director and producer. Having made her debut as a director in 2011, she has since won accolades such as the Grand Prix at the Créteil International Women's Film Festival and a nomination for a Fi ...

, screenwriter and film director *

Aditi Vasudev Aditi Vasudev is an Indian actress, known for her roles in the comedy-drama film ''Do Dooni Chaar'' (2010) and the comedy film ''Sulemani Keeda'' (2014). She has made her TV debut in the serial ''Meri Aawaaz Hi Pehchaan Hain'' in February 2016, ...

, actress *

Nivedita Basu Nivedita Basu is an Indian television producer who worked as Creative Director at Balaji Telefilms. Nivedita turned producer in 2015 and owns a celebrity cricket team (Kolkata Baabu Moshayes) on the television reality show ''Box Cricket League' ...

, film producer * Shivani Rawat, producer *

Sukhmani Sadana Sukhmani Sadana is an Indian writer and actress from Amritsar. She is also The Editor-in-Chief of an International Digital Magazine called F.A.C.E. Sukhmani studied in Welham Girls School, Dehradun and graduated from Lady Shri Ram College, Del ...

, actor and screenwriter

Journalism

Madhu Trehan Madhu Purie Trehan (born 1940s) is an Indian journalist. She is also the co-founder and editor-in-chief of a digital media portal called ''Newslaundry''. Education Trehan studied at Welham Girls' School in Dehradun, graduating in 1962. In 196 ...

, journalist and co-founder of ''

Newslaundry ''Newslaundry'' is an Indian media watchdog that provides media critique, reportage and satirical commentary. It was founded in 2012 by Abhinandan Sekhri, Madhu Trehan and Prashant Sareen, all of whom earlier worked in print or television j ...

'' *

, non-fiction writer, journalist and columnist, ''

Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split be ...

'' * Radhika Roy, co-founder and co-owner of

NDTV New Delhi Television Ltd is an Indian news media company focusing on broadcast and digital news publication. The company is considered to be a legacy brand that pioneered independent news broadcasting in India, and is credited for launching t ...

* Iva Dixit, staff editor at ''

The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. ...

'' * Gargi Rawat, news anchor and environment reporter,

Sports

* Jyoti Ann Burrett, footballer

Art

* Smriti Morarka, hand-weaving revivalist *

Laila Tyabji Laila Tyabji (born 2 May 1947) is an Indian social worker, designer, writer, and craft activist. She is one of the founders of Dastkar, a Delhi-based non governmental organization, working for the revival of traditional crafts in India. She was ...

, co-founder Dastkar *

Mrinalini Mukherjee Mrinalini Mukherjee (1949 – 15 February 2015) was an Indian sculptor. Known for her distinctly contemporary style and use of dyed and woven hemp fibre, an unconventional material for sculpting, she had a career lasting over four decades from t ...

, artist *

Mala Sen Mala Sen (3 June 1947 – 21 May 2011) was a Bengali-Indian- British writer and human rights activist. As an activist, she was known for her civil rights activism and race relations work in London during the 1960s and 1970s, as part of the Brit ...

, writer and activist

Advertising

* Devika Bulchandani, Global CEO, Ogilvy

References

External links

Official school page

Welham Girls Alumni website
{{Coord, 30.3163, 78.0564, type:edu_region:IN-UT, display=title Girls' schools in Uttarakhand Boarding schools in Uttarakhand Schools in Dehradun Educational institutions established in 1957 1957 establishments in Uttar Pradesh Private schools in Uttarakhand Girls' schools in India Girls boarding schools

History

Extracurricular activities

Sports

Publications

Notable alumnae

Politics

Film

Journalism

Sports

Art

Advertising

See also

References

External links