St. Paul's 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. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

for boys in the town of

Darjeeling Darjeeling (, , ) is a city in the northernmost region of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the Koshi Pr ...

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. It is known as "Eton of the East" because it is thought to follow the similar cultural and traditional values of

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

. St. Paul's is one of the oldest public schools in Asia. Entrance tests for admission are held every September. The school follows the ICSE curriculum until class 10 and the ISC curriculum for classes 11 and 12.

History

St. Paul's School was founded on 1 May 1823 in

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

by Daniel Corrie at the instigation of John William Ricketts, a local Anglo-Indian leader. The first principal of the institution was Dr George Smith. Originally located at 11 Park Street, between the Archbishop House and the then Sans Souci Theatre, in 1830 it moved to Jawaharlal Nehru Road to the area now occupied by the Indian Museum. In 1847, it was renamed St. Paul's School by Bishop Wilson, who had associated the school with St. Paul's Cathedral in Calcutta.It moved to its present Jalapahar estate in Darjeeling in 1864 with 31 boarders and a few day scholars. The estate was purchased from Brian Hodgson for Rs.45,000. At that time, at approximately 7,600 feet above sea level, it was the highest school in the world.Educational Institute
City of Darjeeling, retrieved 24 September 2013.Gordon Brook-Shepherd, ''Where the Lion Trod'', London: Macmillan / New York: St. Martin's, 1960, , pp. 65–72
Text online
at archive.org. A number of its students fought in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The school's original purpose was "to supply a good education at a moderate cost to the sons of Europeans and East Indians". After Indian Independence in 1947 it became a school for wealthy Indians and attracted wealthy students from other Asian countries. Bishop Foss Westcott

Bishop Foss Westcott, metropolitan of Bengal, Burma and Ceylon, played an important role in the growth of the school. The Maharajah of Burdwan also made important donations. Over the years a number of estates were purchased and merged with the existing school estate. The Mount Vernon Estate, known as Dawkins, was purchased in the early 1900s, and the Terpsithea Estate in 1955. L.J. Goddard was the longest serving and perhaps the most important rector, leading the school between 1934 and 1964, including the transition from British-ruled to independent India. His successors were David Gibbs (1964–72) and Hari Dang (1977-84). Dang was awarded the

Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

in 1976 for his services in education. Goddard and Gibbs received the OBE for their work at St. Paul's.

School system

The school is divided into Primary, Junior, and Senior wings. The three wings are run independently with the Primary Wing having its own campus and a slight difference in uniform. The Senior and Junior Wings share many facilities. The Rector is the head of the school, assisted by the Senior Master, Head Primary Wing, Head Junior Wing and House masters.

Houses

Senior Wing * Clive (named for

Robert Clive Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive, (29 September 1725 – 22 November 1774), also known as Clive of India, was the first British List of governors of Bengal Presidency, Governor of the Bengal Presidency. Clive has been widely credited for l ...

, first British Governor of the Bengal Presidency) * Hastings (named for

Warren Hastings Warren Hastings (6 December 1732 – 22 August 1818) was a British colonial administrator, who served as the first governor of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal), the head of the Supreme Council of Bengal, and so the first governor-gener ...

, first governor of the Presidency of Fort William, and first Governor-General of Bengal) * Havelock (named for Henry Havelock, British army general) * Lawrence (named for John Lawrence, Viceroy of India) Junior Wing * Anderson (named for

John Anderson, 1st Viscount Waverley John Anderson, 1st Viscount Waverley, (8 July 1882 – 4 January 1958), was a Scottish civil servant and politician who is best known for his service in the War Cabinet during the Second World War, for which he was nicknamed the "Home Front ...

, Governor of Bengal, a benefactor to the school library) * Betten (named for Malcolm Betten, tea planter and member of the Board of Governors) * Cable (named for Ernest Cable, 1st Baron Cable, an old boy and benefactor of the school) * Westcott (named for Foss Westcott, Bishop of Calcutta) Primary Wing * Everest (named for George Everest, British surveyor; or

Mount Everest Mount Everest (), known locally as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet, is Earth's highest mountain above sea level. It lies in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and marks part of the China–Nepal border at it ...

) * Hunt (named for John Hunt, British mountineer) * Hillary (named for

Edmund Hillary Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (20 July 1919 – 11 January 2008) was a New Zealand mountaineering, mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Sherpa people, Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the Timeline of M ...

, New Zealand mountineer) * Tenzing (named for Tenzing Norgay, Nepalese-Indian mountineer)

Culture

The school currently presents itself as an residential school for boys, predominantly Indian with an "international, multiracial and cross-regional cosmopolitan character", having students from many countries including the US, the UK, France, Thailand, Bhutan, Japan, Bangladesh, Nepal, United Arab Emirates, and Hong Kong. Current students are referred to as Paulites and the alumni as Old Paulites. The school lays a great emphasis on uniforms. On off-campus trips students must dress in prescribed suits and carry umbrellas. The school motto is derived from the passage 'Cedamus Phoebo, et moniti meliora sequamur' in the Latin epic the ''Aeneid'' by Virgil. 'Moniti meliora sequamur' means "Having Been Advised, We Follow Better (Higher) Things". The student government is headed by a

school captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

, assisted by House Captains and Prefects, drawn from the

sixth form In the education systems of Barbados, England, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepa ...

. The Junior and Primary Wings have their own system of monitors. The sixth form is privileged and enjoys an advantage over the rest. The chapel holds a central place in the life of the school where it meets as a community. There are clubs which develop artistic and technical skills. Each house presents a concert from time to time, apart from the major school production in October. The extracurricular activities in school are dramatics, elocution, debate, piano, guitar, drums, violin, marching band and sitar classes. There are various hobby clubs and societies. These are all run by the boys under the supervision of masters. In the senior wing, the hobbies are art and craft, Batik, Indian Western music, model-making, photography, wood and lathe work, cybernetics, textile design, and cooking. The school sends candidates for the music and speech examinations held by the

Trinity College London Trinity College London (TCL) is an examination board based in London, United Kingdom which offers graded and diploma qualifications across a range of disciplines in the performing arts and English language learning and teaching. Trinity Colleg ...

and

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...

. The boys are also sent on educational tours to

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

and other historical sites in India and neighbouring countries. The sport curriculum is dominated by football, cricket, athletics, volleyball, basketball, squash, table tennis, tennis, Eton fives, gymnastics, rocking climbing. There has been a long-standing rivalry between St. Paul's and St.Joseph's School, North Point in sports and other activities that the two compete in.

Awards and recognition

St Paul's has been ranked first among boarding schools in West Bengal and fourth in India according to the 2019 Education-World rankings. The school was featured in ''

Forbes India ''Forbes India'' is the Indian edition of ''Forbes'', which is managed by the Reliance Industries-owned media conglomerate, Network 18. History and profile Since its founding in 2008, ''Forbes India'' has achieved a circulation of 50,000 copies ...

'' magazine in the article "The great Indian Schools - 2018". It was named among the top seven boarding schools in India in 2020 by ''India Today''.

Gallery

Notable alumni

* Prithvi Raj Singh Oberoi - Executive Chairman of EIH Hotels, The Oberoi Group; Padma Vibhushan * Maj. Gen. D. K. Palit - Vir Chakra recipient for commanding the 9th Gorkha Rifles, author * Rustum Roy - physicist in the field of chemistry and materials sciences with 21 nominations for the Nobel Prize; awarded with

Order of the Rising Sun The is a Japanese honors system, Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge feat ...

by the Emperor of Japan * Rehman Sobhan - Bangladeshi economist and freedom fighter * Ammar Siamwalla - Thai economist, former President of Thailand Development Research Institute, author * Samiran Nundy - founder editor of the '' National Medical Journal of India'' and ''Tropical Gastroenterology'', recipient of India's

* Frank Blaker -

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...

recipient; in 3rd Battalion, 9th Gurkha Rifles, the

khas Khas peoples or Khas Tribes, (; ) popularly known as Khashiya are an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group native to the Himalayan region of the Indian subcontinent, in what is now the South Asian country of Nepal, as well as the Indian stat ...

battalion in the Indian Army during World War II * Farooq Sobhan - diplomat, Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh * Lalat Indu Parija - IAS, former Chief Secretary of

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

, Author and Captained Odisha cricket team in the

Ranji Trophy The Ranji Trophy is a premier domestic first-class cricket championship played in India and organized annually by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The teams representing regional and state cricket associations participate. BCCI ...

. * S.V.S Juneja - IAS, former Joint Secretary and Additional Secretary in the union finance ministry, former Director (Infrastructure Department) at the

Asian Development Bank The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank to promote social and economic development in Asia. The bank is headquartered in Metro Manila, Philippines and maintains 31 field offices around the world. The bank was establishe ...

* Sanjib Banerjee - former Chief Justice of

Madras High Court The High Court of Judicature at Madras is a High Courts of India, High Court located in Chennai, India. It has appellate jurisdiction over the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry. It is one of ...

* Subroto Roy (economist)- Indian economist, former economic advisor to late

Rajiv Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi (20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991) was an Indian statesman and pilot who served as the prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the Assassination of Indira Gandhi, assassination of his mother, then–prime ...

* Anand Burman - Indian businessman, chairman of Dabur * Ajay Chhibber - first Director General of India's Independent Evaluation Office (with the status of a union Minister of State), former Assistant Secretary-General of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

(UN), head of the Asia-Pacific division of the

UNDP The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human development. The UNDP emphasizes on developing local capacity towar ...

* Karun Krishna Majumdar - during World War II, the first Indian to achieve the rank of wing commander in the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the air force, air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during armed conflicts. It was officially established on 8 Octob ...

* Mahesh Jethmalani - lawyer and senior council,

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 ...

and senior member of BJP Party. * Manish Choudhary - Bollywood actor * A R Shamsud Doha - Bangladesh

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

, former Ambassador to Yugoslavia, Iran and the United Kingdom; former Minister for Information * James McMullan - artist, illustrator, educator; received Drama Desk Special Award in 1991 and Hamilton King Award * R. J. Minney - British film producer, journalist, editor and author * Dev Sanyal, CEO of VARO Energy Group, Switzerland and former group executive committee member, bp plc, London *

Kelly Dorji Kalden Sonam Dorji (born 4 January 1971), known professionally as Kelly Dorji, is a Bhutanese actor, model, and artist who works primarily in Indian movies. Early life Dorji's father is Lynpo Paljor Dorji, widely known as Dasho Benji, the perma ...

- actor and author * Anjan Dutt - Indian film director, actor, and singer-songwriter * George Emmett - test cricketer for England, Captain of the Gloucestershire cricket team, 1955–1958 * Kaizad Gustad - Bollywood director and author * Peter Hildreth - Olympian * Paul Raschid - Olympian in

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

* Sharad Kumar -

Paralympic Games The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disability, disabilities. There are Winter Paralympic Games, Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 ...

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

er, Olympian * Rajeev Mohta - team gold medalist and individual silver medalist in

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

at the

1982 Asian Games The 9th Asian Games (), also known as Delhi 1982 (), were held from 19 November to 4 December 1982, in Delhi, India. 74 Asian and Asian Games records were broken at the event. This was also the first Asiad to be held under the aegis of the Olymp ...

* Sidkeong Tulku Namgyal-Maharaja and Chogyal of Sikkim * Tashi Namgyal - longest-reigning Chogyal (king) of Sikkim (r. 1914-63), who signed the 1950 treaty giving India suzerainty over Sikkim * Jamling Tenzing Norgay - mountain climber, author, recipient of National Citizen award * Vishnu Som - senior editor and principal anchor with New Delhi Television * Tashi Tenzing - mountain climber * Swapan Dasgupta - columnist, Member of Parliament,

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan (IAST: ''Padma Bhūṣaṇa'', lit. 'Lotus Decoration') is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 Januar ...

* Stanley Connors, flying ace with the Royal Air Force during the Second World War

Films shot at St. Paul's School

The school has been featured in Hindi and Bengali language films including: # Hamraaz (1967) by B. R. Chopra # Mera Naam Joker (1970) by

Raj Kapoor Raj Kapoor (; born as Shrishti Nath Kapoor; 14 December 1924 2 June 1988; also known as Ranbir Raj Kapoor) was an Indian actor, film director and producer, who worked in Hindi cinema. He is considered to be one of the greatest and most influen ...

# Seemabaddha (1971) by

Satyajit Ray Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian film director, screenwriter, author, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligraphy, calligrapher, and composer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influ ...

# Do Anjaane (1976) by Dulal Guha # Bada Din (2000) # Main Hoon Na (2004) by Farah Khan # Chowrasta Crossroads of Love (2009) by Anjan Dutta # Barfi! (2012) #

Jagga Jasoos ''Jagga Jasoos'' () is a 2017 Indian Hindi-language musical adventure comedy film written and directed by Anurag Basu, and produced by Siddharth Roy Kapur, Basu and Ranbir Kapoor. It stars Kapoor and Katrina Kaif, and tells the story of a ...

(2017) by Anurag Basu # Raja the Great (2017) by

Anil Ravipudi Anil Ravipudi (born 23 November 1982) is an Indian film director and screenwriter who works in Telugu cinema. He is best known for writing and directing action comedies. His directorial debut was the action comedy ''Pataas'' (2015) and won the S ...

# Petta (2019) by Karthik Subbaraj # Mithya (2022) by Rohan Sippy Hollywood actress Vivien Leigh was born on the school campus (present day Dawkins, cottage beside the basketball court) in November 1913.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Pauls School Darjeeling Church of North India schools Boys' schools in India Christian schools in West Bengal Boarding schools in West Bengal Primary schools in West Bengal High schools and secondary schools in West Bengal Schools in Darjeeling district Education in Darjeeling Educational institutions established in 1823 1823 establishments in India