St. Patrick's High School, formerly known as St. Patrick's European High School, is a

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Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

primary and secondary school, located on Sebastian Road in

Secunderabad Secunderabad () is a twin cities, twin city of Hyderabad and one of the six zones of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Telangana. It is the headquarters of the South ...

Telangana Telangana is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated in the Southern India, south-central part of the Indian subcontinent on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ele ...

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 ...

. The school was established by the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

in 1911. The school was a boys'-only school from kindergarten to 10th grade and it has since become a co-education school and follows the

Indian Certificate of Secondary Education The Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) is an academic qualification awarded by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, a private, non-governmental board of education in India. The CISCE conducts these examinati ...

(ISCE) curriculum.

History

The school was established in 1911 by Fr. H. Colli. While the school is a Catholic educational institution, with the primary aim of providing education to local Catholic boys, students of other faiths are also admitted. The school had a humble beginning under the leadership of Fr. Colli with 35 students in 1911. In April that year, the students took the Madras Middle Certificate Examination. The school was then under the supervision of the Inspector of European Schools. In 1916, standard VII was added and the student body increased to 102. In 1918 kindergarten was added. By 1936, St. Patrick's was a full-fledged high school and celebrated its silver jubilee. The school was under the guidance of the Brothers of St. Gabriel from 1936 to 1956. They introduced the old house system of four i.e. Patrick, Gabriel, Andrew and David among the students for healthy competition. Later at the beginning of the 21st Century the house system was changed to five i.e. Gandhi, Ambedkar, Akbar, Loyola and Xavier. The Archdiocese of Hyderabad took over the school in 1956 until 1973. In 1973, the administration was transferred to the Jesuit Fathers of Andhra Province, belonging to the Society of Jesus (founded by St.

Ignatius of Loyola Ignatius of Loyola ( ; ; ; ; born Íñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola; – 31 July 1556), venerated as Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a Basque Spaniard Catholic priest and theologian, who, with six companions, founded the religious order of the S ...

). The Jesuits brought many changes to the school. Parent visits on the second Saturday of every month was introduced. The rank system was replaced by the grade system. The old building was demolished and the playground was extended. A spacious and ventilated building was built for the kindergarten and elementary sections. The school celebrated its platinum jubilee in 1986. Computer education was introduced in 1989. In 1991, basketball, tennis, and skating courts were constructed. Remedial hour system was introduced in 1997. The St. Patrick's Old Boys Association was rejuvenated around the same time. St. Patrick's High held it centenary celebrations on 12 February 2011. The 109th celebration was at 1 February 2020.

School administration

Being a Catholic institution, it is governed by article 30(1) of the Indian Constitution. It has a staff of 100 and an enrollment of 3,400 students. Since its inception more than 30,000 attended. The school has five houses – Gandhi, Loyola, Akbar, Ambedkar and Xavier – represented by green, red, blue, yellow and pink respectively. These houses were previously known as Davids, Patricks, Andrews, and Gabriels. St. Pat's celebrates Nostalgia Day for its alumni on the first Sunday of every year. The school provides extra-curricular activities – sports and competitions, including

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

and

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

teams. It conducts an annual inter-school basketball tournament organised by the alumni association, named after their former principal the late Father Devasia. It has produced several IITians and an International Mathematical Olympiad gold medalist.

School emblem and motto

The school emblem consists of a green shield inscribed with two golden crosses on the upper right and lower left corners. A white belt runs across with three golden shamrocks for its patron St. Patrick. The motto is ''Virtus et Labor'', virtue and hard work.

Notable alumni

Montek Singh Ahluwalia Montek Singh Ahluwalia (born 24 November 1943) is an Indian economist and civil servant who was the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission of India, a position which carried the rank of a Cabinet Minister. He resigned from this post in May ...

, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, government of India * Justice T. Amarnath Goud, Honorable Judge High Court, State of Telangana

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Patricks High School Secunderabad Jesuit secondary schools in India Jesuit primary schools in India Boys' schools in India Christian schools in Telangana Schools in Secunderabad High schools and secondary schools in Hyderabad, India Educational institutions established in 1911 1911 establishments in India

History

School administration

School emblem and motto

Notable alumni

See also

References