St. John's Diocesan Girls' H.S. School (informally known as Diocesan or Dio) is a girls-only day school located in

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

(Calcutta),

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, 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 by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It was established in 1876 by

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

missionary Angelina Margaret Hoare from

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

who devoted her life to the advancement of women's education in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. It is a Christian school run by the Protestant

Church of North India The Church of North India (CNI) is the dominant united and uniting churches, united Protestant church in northern India. It was established on 29 November 1970 by bringing together most of the Protestant churches working in northern India. It i ...

and its primary language of instruction is English. The school's patron saint is

Saint John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...

. Although previously a

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ...

, the school was stripped of its college status by the British Government when freedom-fighter Bina Das, a student of the school, attempted to assassinate the Governor of Bengal, Stanley Jackson, in the Convocation Hall of the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

on 6 February 1932. Today, the school is often considered to be one of the most prestigious girls' schools in Bengal, and has a rich history of distinguished alumnae such as Lady Abala Bose,

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (; born 24 February 1942) is an Indian scholar, literary theorist, and feminist critic. She is a University Professor at Columbia University and a founding member of the establishment's Institute for Comparative ...

, and

Maitreyi Devi Maitreyi Devi (or Maitreyī Devī; 10 September 1914 – 29 January 1989) was an Indian poet and novelist. She is best known for her Sahitya Akademi Award-winning novel, '' Na Hanyate'' (). Biography Devi was born in 1914. She was the daughter ...

. It is situated in the iconic Landsdowne Road (officially

Sarat Bose Road Sarat Bose Road, previously known as Lansdowne Road, is a 3.5 km long road in southern part of Kolkata, India. The 4 laned road connects Southern Avenue (near Rabindra Sarobar Stadium) with AJC Bose Road (at Minto Park) and separates tw ...

) in South Kolkata and also runs a school for underprivileged children in Ripon Street. Johnthebaptist

History

The school is one of the oldest

girls' school Single-sex education, also known as single-gender education, same-sex education, same-gender education, and gender-isolated education, is the practice of conducting education with male and female students attending separate classes, perhaps in se ...

s in Calcutta (present-day Kolkata). In 1894, the school was named St. John's Diocesan by the Clewer Sisters of John the Baptist from

Windsor, Berkshire Windsor is a historic town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is the site of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British monarch. The town is situated we ...

. The school was started in 1876 by Sister Angelina Margaret Hoare (17 May 1843 – 10 January 1892), a British missionary from

who devoted her life to the advancement of women's education in British India. From her diaries we know that the school started with 16 female students. From 1908 to 1931, St. John's Diocesan School remained the only Christian women's college of good repute in eastern India. Hoare wrote in a letters to her brother in

: ''"...my idea of the future of our Diocesan School is that it should be an institution not confined to any particular society or an elite group..."'' She died at age 48 in 1892. Upon her death, Bishop of Calcutta, Bishop Johnson, praised her in the following words:Diocese of Kolkata
, cnisynod.org; accessed 17 June 2016. On 7 April 1931, Beena Das who was a student of the school, shot the then

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

, Stanley Jackson for which the recognition of the

status was taken way thereafter by the

Government. During its earlier days till the 1970s, it was a

co-education Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

al school. However, during the 1970s, the need for

educational institutions An educational institution is a place where people of different ages gain an education, including preschools, childcare, primary-elementary schools, secondary-high schools, and universities. They provide a large variety of learning environments a ...

for

women A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional u ...

in Kolkata was felt and since then the school has devoted itself to the betterment of female education only. It has more than 3,800 female students and is affiliated to the

WBBSE The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) is the West Bengal state government administered autonomous examining authority for the Standard 10 examination (or secondary school level examination) of West Bengal, India. It came into f ...

and

WBCHSE The West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE) is an Indian examining authority (School Educational Board), which is responsible for conducting examinations for standard XII for both government and private schools affiliated to ...

Principals

Academic life

The school admits only

female An organism's sex is female ( symbol: ♀) if it produces the ovum (egg cell), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete (sperm cell) during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females and ...

students A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution, or more generally, a person who takes a special interest in a subject. In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school ...

and is predominantly taught by female teachers. The school teaches from the

Preschool A preschool (sometimes spelled as pre school or pre-school), also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, play school, is an school, educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they ...

level to the

higher secondary Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC), Higher Secondary School Certificate, Higher Secondary Education Certificate (HSEC) or Intermediate Examination is a secondary education qualification in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. It is equivalent to the f ...

(10 + 2) and is affiliated under the

and

. The medium of instruction is English although

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

and

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

are also taught as first languages beside English. Pre-primary, Primary, Secondary and Higher Secondary section starts class at the same time in the morning, five days a week, with the first two sections having an earlier finish than the rest.

Motto and emblem

The school motto is ''The Good Retain The Better Follow'' , as illustrated in the school's emblem. This is printed on all school dresses, sweaters, blazers, Physical Education, and athletic uniforms as well as school diaries, bags, note book covers and other articles.

Prayer and anthem

Before starting classes students pray the

Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also known by its incipit Our Father (, ), is a central Christian prayer attributed to Jesus. It contains petitions to God focused on God’s holiness, will, and kingdom, as well as human needs, with variations across manusc ...

in the assembly. The school anthem is ''Make Me a Channel of Your Peace'' which is the hymn version of "

Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace The anonymous text that is usually called the Prayer of Saint Francis (or Peace Prayer, or Simple Prayer for Peace, or Make us an Instrument of Your Peace) is a widely known Christian prayer for peace. Often associated with the Italian Saint F ...

", adapted by Sebastian Temple.

Campus

The campus of the school is a mixture of natural beauty along with old

buildings and new buildings. It has separate playgrounds for students of nursery classes and other senior classes. Inside the campus there is a park, three play grounds, a basketball court and seven buildings in a lush green surrounding. The school has a small

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

inside one of the buildings.

Facilities

The school's facilities includes seven laboratories - Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Nutrition, Home Management and Home Nursing, Junior School Computer, Senior School Computer labs. The school has an LCD projector in the library for audio-visual aid to teaching as well as for showing films to the junior students. There is also the

United Bank of India United Bank of India (UBI) was an Indian nationalized bank which provided financial and banking services. Established in 1950 and headquartered in Kolkata, the bank was nationalised by the government of India in 1969 becoming one of public sec ...

-St. John's Diocesan School branch, transport (23 buses), uniform and stationery, booth, tea and coffee booth, school canteen, and a Fulbright Scholar Exchange Programme.

Library

The school library called ‘Dio Bibliothique’ has a

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

of 200 students and has a collection of over 35,000 books and subscribes to periodicals and dailies.

Music Room - Conference Hall

The school Music and Audio-Visual room known as 'La Sale Diphony’ is also used for conference and seminars. Piano, organ, keyboard, Octapad, guitar and drums are the instruments which are taught in the school.

Calendar

The

Summer vacation The term summer vacation or summer break refers to a school break in the summer between school years and the break in the school academic year. Students are off anywhere between two weeks to three and a half months. Depending on the country and ...

Durga Puja Durga Puja (ISO 15919, ISO: , ), also known as Durgotsava or Shaaradotsava, is an annual festival originating in the Indian subcontinent which pays homage to the Hinduism, Hindu goddess Durga, and is also celebrated because of Durga's victo ...

, and

Winter Winter is the coldest and darkest season of the year in temperate and polar climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Dif ...

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

vacations A vacation (American English) or holiday (British English) is either a leave of absence from a regular job or school or an instance of leisure travel away from home. People often take a vacation during specific holiday observances or for spe ...

are given and the sessions usually starts for Lower Nursery to Class X - Feb through January and for Class XI and XII July through June.

Celebrations

Independence day An independence day is an annual event memorialization, commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or Sovereign state, statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or after the end of a milit ...

is celebrated every year on 15 August in the school premises and so is

Teacher's Day Teachers' Day is a special day for the appreciation of teachers. It may include celebrations to honor them for their special contributions in a particular field area, or the community tone in education. This is the primary reason why countries c ...

Children's Day Children's Day is a commemorative date celebrated annually in honour of children, whose date of observance varies by country. In 1925, International Children's Day was first proclaimed in Geneva during the World Conference on Child Welfare. Sin ...

, St. John's Day, Panchishe Boishakh and

Baishe Srabon ''Baishey Srabon'' () (''22 Shey Srabon'') is a 2011 Indian Bengali neo-noir psychological thriller film directed by Srijit Mukherji. It is the first installment of the Srijit Mukherji Cop Universe. It was his second film. The cast consists ...

– the birth and death anniversaries respectively of

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

, Diocesan Education Mission Fete,

World AIDS day World AIDS Day, designated on 1 December every year since 1988, is an international day dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection and mourning those who have died of the disease. The acquired immu ...

, Winter Carnival, Diotornie, Melior (Annual School Fest) and other special days of the school.

Uniform

The school uniform contains the school emblem and is of two sets - one for daily use and another for physical education or sports days. There are separate uniforms for daily use for the students of pre-primary section, primary section, secondary section, and higher secondary section..

Events

The school organizes academic prize distribution ceremony, sports, exhibitions, educational excursions or trips, school fests, conferences, academic and artistic programmes,

Party, Farewell Party (for the leaving batches of 12th grades) and publishes a school magazine every year .

Magazine

The annual magazine of the school known as '

Papyrus Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, ''Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'' or ''papyruses'') can a ...

' is published every year highlighting the literary talents and other achievements of the students and the school along with its events.

Houses and colors

The four houses were formally known as Lily (blue), Rose (pink), Lotus (green), and Pansy (yellow) Currently the four

houses A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

and their colors are: * Angelina Margaret Hoare - Pink * Sister Mary Victoria - Blue * Sister Hilda Francis - Green * Beena Das - Yellow Green House Pink House Blue House Yellow House

Social services

The school is involved in social services, charities and community welfare. A tradition since 1990 has been donation of one onion and one potato on every Friday by each student from Lower Nursery to Class XII to the school which goes to the St. Joseph's old age home run by the Little Sisters of the Poor. Visits to old age homes such as Mulvany House, Shanti Nivas and St Joseph's Old Age Home are made by students. Some of the reflections of the school's devotion for the welfare of the public at large include the 2004

Tsunami A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...

relief, 2009 Aila relief programme, 2008 drinking water supply programme, slum rehabilitation activities, educational Tours for underprivileged children, and a free Seva Clinic at St Mary's Church, Kolkata.

Awards

Winner of 1999 Britannia Trophy for Better Calcutta Project, winner of Best School Award by Pathfinder and Heritage Resources Pvt. Ltd, Centennial Award from the Rotary Club of Victoria, winner of The Best Maintained School Award by TTIS in three consecutive years 2006, 2007 and 2008,The Telegraph Official Website
/ref> TTIS trophy for the school that cares, winner of The Best Maintained School Award by Indian Chambers of Commerce, 2009 "Best School of the Year Award" -Mother Teresa International Award. The 2008 Golden Flame Award was given to one of its teacher, Mrs S.B. Nandi.

Notable alumni

Notable alumniSchool Alumni
/ref> include: Armed Forces of India *

Joyanto Nath Chaudhuri Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri (10 June 1908 – 6 April 1983) was an Indian army general who served as the 5th Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army from 1962 to 1966 and the Military Governor of Hyderabad State from 1948 to 1949. After his retirem ...

– former

Chief of the Army Staff (India) The Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) is a statutory office held by the professional head of the Indian Army (IA), the Army, land forces Military branch, branch of the Indian Armed Forces. Customarily held by a Military star ranking, four-star Gen ...

* Subroto Mukherjee, former Air Marshal of the Indian Air Force Noted Government Officials * S. N. Roy, ICS Arts, culture and entertainment *

Goutam Ghose Goutam Ghose (also spelled Gautam Ghosh; born 24 July 1950) is an Indian film director, actor, music director and cinematographer who works primarily in Cinema of West Bengal, Bengali cinema. He is the only Indian to have received the "Vittorio ...

, film director *

, literati * Leela Majumdar, author *

Sharmila Tagore Sharmila Tagore (; born 8 December 1944) also known by her married name Begum Ayesha Sultana, is an Indian actress primarily known for her work in Hindi cinema, Hindi and Cinema of West Bengal, Bengali films. Widely recognized as one of the gre ...

, actor *

Mala Sinha Mala Sinha (born Alda Sinha; 11 November 1936) is a former Indian actress who mainly worked in Hindi, Bengali films. Initially starting her career with regional cinema, she went on to become a top leading actress in Hindi Cinema in the 1960s a ...

, actor * Shreyasi Chatterjee, artist and art historian,

Rabindra Bharati University Rabindra Bharati University is a public research university in Kolkata, India. It was founded on 8 May 1962, under the Rabindra Bharati Act of the Government of West Bengal in 1961, to mark the birth centenary of the poet Rabindranath Tagore. I ...

Academia and education * Lady

Abala Bose Abala Bose (8 August 1864 – 25 April 1951) was an Indian social worker and feminist. She was known for her efforts in women's education and her contribution towards helping widows.Sengupta, Subodh Chandra and Bose, Anjali (editors), 1976/1998 ...

, wife of Sir

Jagadish Chandra Bose Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose (; ; 30 November 1858 – 23 November 1937) was a polymath with interests in biology, physics and writing science fiction. He was a pioneer in the investigation of radio microwave optics, made significant contributions ...

, who later started Brahmo Samaj Girls' School *

Sarala Roy Sarala Roy (1861-1946) was an Indian educator, feminist, and social activist. She was one of the first women to matriculate from Calcutta University, and was the first woman to be a member of the University Senate. She founded a school for girl ...

, founder of Gokhale Memorial School, Kolkata *

Tanika Sarkar Tanika Sarkar is a historian of modern India based at the Jawaharlal Nehru University. Sarkar's work focuses on the intersections of religion, gender, and politics in both colonial and postcolonial South Asia, in particular on women and the Hindu ...

, Professor in the Department of History, St. Stephen's College, Delhi *

, Professor in English,

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

* Vina Mazumdar

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

, women studies academician * Purabi Roy, noted scholar, author and

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose (23 January 1897 – 18 August 1945) was an Indian independence movement, Indian nationalist whose defiance of British raj, British authority in India made him a hero among many Indians, but his wartime alliances with ...

researcher Field of Law * Subimal Roy – former

Justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judiciary of India, judicial authority and the supreme court, highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final Appellate court, court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also ...

Field of Medicine * Dr Priyadarshini Bhattacharjee – Internal Medicine Specialist and Clinical Supervisor

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

and Founder-Director, South Asian Medical Students' Association an NGO based in Kolkata.

References

External links

*
CNI Diocese of Calcutta – Bishops

- Church of North India
NDTV Fitness Campaign 2011
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint John's Diocesan Girls' Higher Secondary School Church of North India schools Schools in Colonial India Christian schools in West Bengal Primary schools in West Bengal High schools and secondary schools in West Bengal Girls' schools in Kolkata Anglican organizations established in the 19th century Educational institutions established in 1876 1876 establishments in India