St Patrick's High School (Karachi)

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St Patrick's High School
Motto Per Aspera Ad Astra
Through adversity to the stars
Established 1861
Type High school
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Church of Pakistan
Principal Rev Fr Joe Paul
Administration Catholic Board of Education
Founder Rev. J.A. Willy
Location Saddar Town
Karachi
Sindh
Pakistan
LEA Catholic Board of Education
Cambridge International Examinations
Board of Intermediate Education, Karachi
Ages 6 to 15
Houses 3 houses
     Raymond
     Lobo
     Cordiero
Website Official website

St Patrick's High School, is a Catholic missionary school located in Saddar Town in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. It is one of the oldest educational institutions in the country.[citation needed]

Contents

[edit] History

St Patrick’s was established on 6 May 1861, and officially registered as a high School in 1867. Its founder, Rev J.A. Willy served the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), who controlled the school till 4 June 1935. It was then taken over by the Franciscan order from 5 June 1935 till 6 October 1950. The last principal in the period being being Archilles Meersman.[1] Since 1950's, the school has only had Pakistani principals, belonging to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Karachi, heading it.

The school is a multidimensional organization with a number of parallel streams of education. These streams include the technical stream comprising of polytechnic education and the Matriculation stream in which students sit for the Karachi Board examinations.The remaining two streams are the ‘O’ and ‘A’ level streams where students sit for the Cambridge examinations (UCLES now CIE). This stream is highly selective and comprises compulsory and optional subjects, which includes Mathematics, Sciences, Social Studies, English Literature, Computers and Environment Management. Of the Sciences, Biology, Chemistry and Physics are offered.

The school is divided into essentially three sections at the secondary level: the Cambridge section (prepares students for O and A level), the Metric section (prepares students for local examinations) and the Technical section (imparts technical or trade education)

School facilities include separate libraries for all sections, laboratories, including fully equipped computer clusters, sports fields, auditoriums, scouting and college counseling facilities. The school has produced well known leaders and personalities, including two cardinals of the Catholic Church, two Prime Ministers and a Presidentof Pakistan, two Chief Ministers of Sindh, a former leader of the opposition of India, mayors of Karachi and well known people in nearly all fields of life.

The school also has a tradition of sports. The cricket and hockey teams have consistently ranked among the top five high school teams in the state. The school has also produced a number of sportsmen who have gone on to play at the highest level for Pakistan.

The current principal is Rev. Joseph Paul. The school is owned by the Roman Catholic Church in Pakistan.

[edit] The Primary Section

The Primary section building is the oldest and most aesthetically pleasing in the campus. The building houses grades 1 to 5. The grades are further divided into sub-sections: A, B, C and D. Each subsection is called a "class" and is referred to by the grade, followed by the section, for example Class 1-A, 3-D, 5-B etc. Each class is assigned to a faculty member, who is called the "class teacher". The class teacher usually teaches English, Science, Social Studies and Mathematics to her class, and is responsible for maintaining the attendance sheets and results. Other subjects, like Urdu, Art and Islamyat/Religious Studies, are taught by specialist teachers.

The students are distributed amongst these classes randomly. Each class has about 40-45 students. They study all the subjects together, except Islamiyat and Religious Studies, for which the students are divided into sub-groups depending upon their religious affiliation.

English, Urdu, Arithmetic, basic computing, Art, Science, and Social Studies are some of the subjects taught in the primary section. Special emphasis is placed on Math, and generally Patricians are known to be strong in this subject. All classes also have a physical training session at least once a week.

Annual events in the Primary Section include the Sports Day, the Mini Mela, Children's Day, Elocution and Debate competition, the Milad (for Muslim students), and the Christmas play. The Sports Day is the most important event in the calendar, and preparations for it start about a month prior to the event. There is also an annual cricket tournament, only for Classes 4 and 5, and winning the tournament is a source of great pride for all the students in the particular class.

[edit] Matric Section

Building of the Matriculation Section.
Building of the Matriculation Section.

The Matric section prepares students for Karachi Board examinations. While most of the students in the Matric section come over from the Primary section, a select few outsiders make their way in through an open test.

The Board results produced by Patricians are outstanding. Usually 97% of the Science group students get A-1 grades, while A-1s are less abundant in the Commerce group which is usually a misconception.

[edit] The Cambridge section

The Cambridge section, so named because it prepares students for O Level examinations held by the Cambridge board, runs from class 6 to class 11. The St Patricks High School is mainly known just because of the un-parallel results produced by the Cambridge Section throughout Karachi and most of Pakistan. It was being run by Mrs Henderson for over 35 years. She retired in the summer of 2006 and has since then been replaced by Aloysius Duchna.

[edit] A Levels section

The A Levels is the only co-education section of the school. Admission or rather readmission to ‘A’ level is on merit. The school attracts some of the best students of ‘O’ levels from many schools in Karachi. Economics, Accounting, Urdu, Sociology, World History, Art and English Literature are also offered. St. Patrick’s has some of the best Cambridge results on record.

The official website of the A Levels section: [1]

[edit] The House system

A-Level students are divided into three houses named after former principals of the school, namely: Raymond, Lobo and Cordiero. The colours of the houses are Blue, Red and Purple respectively. Each year students compete in inter-house competitions throughout the academic year to gain points towards the house trophy. The House Trophy is awarded to the house with most educational and extra curricular points. Competitions include the annual athletics day, cricket, field hockey, football, and basketball tournaments, debating, singing, elocution and quiz competitions, etc.

[edit] The Morning Assembly

In the morning, the school gates close at 7:45 sharp and the students on the other side of the gate are not allowed to enter the school until after the proceedings, after paying a fine. The Principal, assisted by a sports master, usually heads the assembly. During the assembly the heads of all the sections (O Level, A Level , Matric and Technical section) stand with there students. Strict discipline is maintained and any lax in discipline is usually punished by a warning, detention, or fine.

The morning assembly is a decades old tradition at St Patrick’s. The day starts with the singing of the National Anthem and the school song. Scouts host the Pakistani and school flags as the whole school takes part in the singing. The Primary Section and the senior school (Cambridge, Matric, A Levels and Technical Section) assemblies are held separately. In the Primary section assembly, the tradition of saying prayers is still followed. Children say a private prayer before being dispersed to classes.

The assembly for the afternoon section commences at 1:00 p.m. The traditions of flag hosting and singing are usually followed, although the atmosphere is more relaxed.

[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] See also

Encyclopedia Of Pakistan Cricket 1947 to 2004 by Khadim Hussain Baluch. ISBN 0-951-28433-9 Other titles by the same author: Imran's Summer of Fulfilment Summer of Swing Wallis Matthias - A memorial Biography Hunt for peace Hussains Eldorado A century of Karachi cricket

[edit] References

  1. ^ Diehl, Katharine Smith (August 1978). "Review: Catholic Religious Orders in South Asia (1500-1835)", The Journal of Asian Studies. Association for Asian Studies, pp.699-711. Retrieved on 2008-05-25. 
  2. ^ "Can he succeed?", Ardeshir Cowasjee, Dawn, 11 July 2004
  3. ^ "Can he succeed?", Ardeshir Cowasjee, Dawn, 11 July 2004
  4. ^ "Time has not changed Advani's alma mater", Beena Sarwar, The Hindu, 5 June 2005
  5. ^ "The educated of Sindh", Ardeshir Cowasjee, Dawn, 28 May 2000

[edit] External links