St. Xavier's Collegiate School (informally SXCS) 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 for boys, 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 ...

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. The school was founded in 1860 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 ...

under the supervision of Fr. Henri Depelchin S.J., and it is named after St.

Francis Xavier Francis Xavier, Jesuits, SJ (born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta; ; ; ; ; ; 7 April 15063 December 1552), venerated as Saint Francis Xavier, was a Kingdom of Navarre, Navarrese cleric and missionary. He co-founded the Society of Jesus ...

, a 16th-century Jesuit missionary to India. The school caters to approximately 2,300 students.

History

One of the elite institutes of India, St Xavier's Collegiate school was founded in 1860 by the Society of Jesus, an all-male

Catholic religious order In the Catholic Church, a religious order is a community of consecrated life with members that profess solemn vows. They are classed as a type of Religious institute (Catholic), religious institute. Subcategories of religious orders are: * can ...

. The school is named after

St. Francis Xavier Francis Xavier, SJ (born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta; ; ; ; ; ; 7 April 15063 December 1552), venerated as Saint Francis Xavier, was a Navarrese cleric and missionary. He co-founded the Society of Jesus and, as a representative o ...

, a Spanish Jesuit

saint In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...

. The founder of the school is Fr. Henri Depelchin, S.J., who oversaw most of the groundwork during the early years.

San Souci theatre

The San Souci theatre at 30 Park Street (now Mother Teresa Sarani), Kolkata-700016, was burned to the ground in 1843. The property was purchased by Jesuits from Belgium and became the present campus.

Foundation years

The motto, (translated as "nothing beyond"), along with the crest of the college date to the rectorship of Fr. O'Neill, S.J., 1904–1913. The present imposing five-storied building was built from 1934 to 1940 at a cost of Rs 9 lakhs, which was collected partly from the public of Calcutta, assistance from Belgium, and the huge rental received from the American army that occupied the building during

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 ...

.sxccal.ed
history
Retrieved on 6 February 2008 Expansion of the school has been a long effort, with a campus slated for Salt Lake City, Kolkata and a second boys' hostel not far from the existing one. A commemorative stamp was issued by the

Indian Post Office The Department of Posts, d/b/a India Post, is an Indian public sector postal system statutory body headquartered in New Delhi, India. It is an organisation under the Ministry of Communications. It is the most widely distributed postal system in ...

on 12 April 1985 depicting the campus and in its commentary recognising the school's contribution to society.indianpost.co
Commemorative stamp
retrieved on 4 February 2008 In 2019, the foundation stone was laid for a new kindergarten section.

Programs

Students have excelled on 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 ...

exam. In 2015, a student secured the highest marks in the ICSE examination while in 2017 a student scored the highest marks, in the Indian School Certificate examination. In 2013 Xavier was ranked by Digital Learning as the top school in West Bengal. The school is divided into houses namely Berchmans, Britto, Gonzaga and Loyola, all trained in synchronized marching. The tertiary section extended to coeducational Honors Arts and Science programs and Teacher Training while still on the high school campus. In 2011 Xavier was judged the best eco-initiative school in Kolkata City for its preparation of compost manure for organic gardening. The school won a football tournament organized to promote outdoor exercise (so that youth do not become addicted to staying indoors with their computers). The traveling cricket team in 2016 secured the first place in a tournament in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

, England. In September 2016 the school hosted an exhibition of about 90 paintings of

Mother Teresa Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu (born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, ; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), better known as Mother Teresa or Saint Mother Teresa, was an Albanian-Indian Catholic Church, Roman Catholic nun, founder of the Missionaries of ...

to commemorate her canonization that month.

Steps toward university

St Xavier's is expanding into tertiary education in collaboration with other groups, as with the Jesuit Xavier School of Management in

Jamshedpur Jamshedpur (; ), also known as Tatanagar, is a major industrial city in eastern India. It is the List of cities in Jharkhand by population, largest city in the state of Jharkhand. With a population of 629,658 in the city limits and 1.3 million ...

, on a new 17-acre campus in

Rajarhat Rajarhat is a locality under the jurisdiction of Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation of North 24 Parganas district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA). Demog ...

near

New Town, Kolkata New Town ( Rajarhat New Town) is a planned city, planned Satellite city of Kolkata in the Indian States and territories of India, state of West Bengal. It is administered by NKDA (New Town Kolkata Development Authority). New Town is declared a ...

. A research centre with post-graduate courses is also planned. While schools of engineering and medicine are being considered, plans are progressing slowly to assure that fees will remain low and a wide range of students will be able to afford the education.

Notable alumni

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 ...

, first Asian Nobel Laureate * Abu Sayeed Ayyub, Indian philosopher, teacher, literary critic . *

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 ...

, biologist, physicist, biophysicist, botanist, archaeologist and Fellow of the Royal Society * Norman Pritchard, first Asian-born athlete to win an Olympic medal *

Jyoti Basu Jyoti Basu (born Jyotirindra Basu; 8 July 1914 – 17 January 2010) was an Indian Marxist theorist, communist activist, and politician. He was one of the most prominent leaders of Communist movement in India. He served as the 6th and longest ...

, longest-serving Chief Minister of West Bengal (1977-2000)) * Siddhartha Shankar Ray, former Chief Minister of West Bengal *

Utpal Dutt Utpal Dutt (; 29 March 1929 – 19 August 1993) was an Indian actor, director, and writer-playwright. He was primarily an actor in Bengali theatre, where he became a pioneering figure in Modern Indian theatre, when he founded the "Little The ...

, Indian film and theatre actor, theatre director, and writer-playwright *

Sanjiv Goenka Sanjiv Goenka (born 29 January 1961) is an Indian billionaire businessman and investor. He is the founder and chairman of RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, RPSG Group, headquartered in Kolkata. He also owns the Indian Premier League, IPL cricket team Luc ...

, industrialist *

Shashi Tharoor Shashi Tharoor (; born 9 March 1956) is an Indian politician, author, and former diplomat, who has been serving as Member of Parliament for Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, since 2009. He is currently the Chairman of Committee on External Affairs. ...

, Member of Parliament *

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 ...

, noted Bollywood actor * General Shankar Roy Chowdhury, former Chief of Army Staff in the Indian Army and former Member of Parliament *

Kaushik Basu Kaushik Basu (born 9 January 1952) is an Indian economist who was Chief Economist of the World Bank from 2012 to 2016 and Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India from 2009 to 2012. He is the C. Marks Professor of International Studie ...

, former Chief Economist of the World Bank (2012-2016) * Sanjeev Sanyal, Member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India *

Sourav Ganguly Sourav Chandidas Ganguly (; natively spelled as Gangopadhyay; born 8 July 1972), also known as Dada (meaning ''"elder brother"'' in Bengali language, Bengali), is an Indian cricket commentator and former cricketer. He is popularly called the ...

, former captain of the Indian cricket team and 39th President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India * Dipankar Gupta, former Solicitor General of India. * P. Lal, writer * Neil O'Brien, quizmaster and former Member of Parliament * Derek O'Brien, quizmaster and Member of Parliament

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Xavier's Collegiate School Jesuit secondary schools in India Jesuit primary schools in India Boys' schools in India Christian schools in West Bengal Primary schools in West Bengal High schools and secondary schools in West Bengal Schools in Kolkata Educational institutions established in 1860 1860 establishments in British India