CHRIST CHURCH SCHOOL AND BARNES SCHOOL
CHRIST CHURCH
Located at Byculla area of Mumbai, CHRIST CHURCH School is one of the oldest
schools in the city. Over the years, this school has built its reputation of
being one of the top schools in South Mumbai. The main aim of Christ Church
School is to develop students to their full potential in academics, social and
personal life. This school has a heritage of more than 200 years with a lot of
notable alumni. With the advancement of latest technologies, the school has
revamped itself. Now, it is using the most cutting-edge teaching methodologies
for the holistic development of a child.
Christ Church School is a private coeducational prep school located in Mumbai,
India. It is a Christian school, founded in 1815, under the auspices of the
Bombay Education Society. It has close to 3800 students, all of whom are night
scholars. The school is twinned with Barnes School, in Deolali, Nashik. Both
schools follow the ICSE curriculum. It is located in Byculla, just ahead of the
JJ flyover. The school is located on Clare Road, or as it is locally called,
Mirza Ghalib Marg.
BARNES
Barnes School, Deolali, is a boarding school in west India. It was established
in 1925, on the basis of a 1718 original foundation.
It is a private co-educational prep school. It is an Anglican school, founded
in 1925, under the auspices of the Bombay Education Society. The school is
twinned with Christ Church School, in Mumbai. Both schools follow the ICSE
curriculum and use the same shield as a badge or logo, Barnes in blue and
Christ Church in green. Barnes Junior College is affiliated to the Indian
School Certificate/ISC. Barnes School and Junior College was started in 2008.
HISTORY
200 years of the Bombay Education Society
The Bombay Education Society (BES) celebrates the 200th anniversary of its
Foundation in 1815 in Mumbai by the Venerable Archdeacon George Barnes,
chaplain of the East India Company at the time. Today, it is the oldest society
in the city that is dedicated to this vital cause and runs two schools,
Barnes School & Junior College, Devlali, and Christ Church School, Byculla,
Mumbai.
A hundred years after East India Company Chaplain Rev. Richard Cobbe founded a
small free school in Mumbai (not far from the present Cathedral of St. Thomas,
Fort) to house, feed, cloth and educate twelve poor boys, Archdeacon Barnes
realised that the charity school could not meet the education needs of hundreds
of children and so he appealed for funds. Consequently, The Society for
Promoting the Education of the Poor within the Government of Bombay – now known
as the Bombay Education Society (BES) – was formed in 1815 with Sir Evan
Nepean, then Governor of Bombay, as its first President, to ensure a value
based education and good upbringing for underprivileged children.
The first small school was taken over and student numbers grew until it became
apparent that new grounds and school buildings were essential. A large, airy
site at Byculla was allocated by the government and new school buildings were
opened in 1925. Girls students were also provided for. One of the copper plates
commemorating the opening is now on the wall of Evans Hall, Barnes School &
Junior College, Devlali. The other remains with Christ Church School, Byculla,
Mumbai, which along with the parish church there, stands on part of the land
originally given to the BES. Much of the land was later sold to help build
Barnes School.
The BES schools were primarily boarding schools for Anglo-Indian boys and
girls, mainly belonging to the Anglican Church. However, day-scholars from all
castes and creeds were also admitted. In the early 20th century, BES
amalgamated with the Indo-British Institution, which had been founded in 1837
by Rev. George Candy. By then, Byculla had become crowded and unhealthy and so,
Sir Reginald Spence and Mr. Haig-Brown initiated plans to move the boarding
part of the schools away from Bombay to the cooler and healthier Deccan
Plateau. A site of more than 250 acres was purchased at Devlali and on November
17, 1923, Sir George Lloyd laid the foundation stone of Evans Hall. Less than
two years later, on January 29, 1925, a special train brought the first
boarders to Devlali and Barnes School was declared open by Sir Leslie Wilson,
Governor of Bombay and patron of the Bombay Education Society.
The memory of Founders and Benefactors is preserved in the names of the
buildings – Barnes, Candy, Spence, Haig-Brown and Lloyd. Other names are also
remembered. Greaves House is named after Sir John Greaves, a prominent Bombay
businessman of the firm Greaves Cotton who was Director of the Bombay
Education Society and Chairman of its Managing Committee. Royal House
commemorates Harry Royal, an old boy of the school who became an officer of the
Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Honorary Treasurer of the BES for many years.
The greatest of them all was the Rev. Thomas Evans. After being Headmaster at
the old School at Byculla, he became the first Headmaster of Barnes. Without
him, the school would probably not have survived its early years which is why
his portrait hangs in Evans Hall, named in his memory when he retired in 1934.
In 1948, the BES faced and overcame a serious threat. The Indian Government
decided to phase out the grant-in-aid to Barnes School and Christ Church
School, without which the two schools would have to close. William Russell, the
Chairman of BES at the time, agreed with the solution proposed by the previous
Chairman, Sir John Greaves, which was to sell Barnes School to fund Christ
Church School. When the Railway Board of the Central Government offered to buy
Barnes School for £ 150,000, he recommended that the Society accept the offer.
It was Frank Anthony, the Anglo-Indian nominated member of the Constituent
Assembly who advised him to reject the offer as it would spell the doom of
Anglo-Indian education in India and the Government of Maharashtra headed by
Moraji Desai wanted to abolish English as a medium of instruction, except for
those whose mother tongue was English. Aided by an eminent lawyer, Frank
Anthony filed a case against the Government of Maharashtra and the crisis was
eventually averted. Without the timely intervention of Frank Anthony, Barnes
School would not be standing today.
Whilst BES has always stressed on academic excellence and the development of
all-round skills through sports and extra curricular activities, it has
emphasised a value based education for all students and ensures that they go
through a specially created comprehensive course. That is because it is ever
mindful of its responsibility to shape the citizens of tomorrow and secure the
future of the nation.
Both BES schools, Barnes School & Junior College and Christ Church School, have
a long and proud record of distinguished educational service as well as a
reputation for imparting a sound moral, intellectual and physical education.
They also have a rich heritage of promoting sports, believing that sports is
critical to a child’s overall development and nurtures a competitive spirit.
Barnes School was recognised as the No.1 Day-cum-Boarding School in Maharashta
and No.15 in India in the 2014 Education World Indian School Rankings. Christ
Church School is one of the premier CICSE and Cambridge school in the country.
It was voted among the top 10 schools in Mumbai in the Hindustan Times &
Digital Magazine survey.
Thanks to Arif Halani an alumnus of Christ Church School on FB.
Roland
Toronto
