On a typical morning, Residency Road in Bangalore swarms with traffic as harried parents in cars jostle with yellow school vans even as autorickshaws rush past, school bags dangling by the side. Residency Road is just one of the main arterial roads in Bangalore’s Central Business District or CBD, which is home to some of the city’s finest schools.
British influence shapes the past here
Bangalore was one of the biggest military areas during the British era, and evidence of their presence here continue to remain in many ways. Buildings built in Victorian style architecture, neighbourhoods that still go by very British names, and roads that are named after military personnel.
The British appointed Sir Barry Close as the first Mysore Resident, a British representative in other words, who was later stationed in Bangalore. He stayed in an imposing colonial mansion known as The Residency, and the street where it was located came to be known as Residency Road.
Today, Residency Road is most known for having many prestigious schools along its stretch. Here is a peep into the history behind some of these well-known schools.
Bishop Cotton Boys School
In the 1800s, George Lynch Cotton was sent to India as the Bishop of Calcutta. He arrived at a time when education was in the spotlight after the introduction of Macaulay’s Minute on Indian Education. Cotton was highly interested in developing the education system in India, and he chalked out a visionary plan that involved establishing schools and providing education for children of European and Anglo-Indian families who couldn’t otherwise afford it.
In Bangalore, the initiative was taken up by Rev. Samuel Thomas Pettigrew, the Chaplain of St. Marks Church. In 1865, Bishop Cotton, Bangalore began functioning from a small house and later moved to its current location on Residency Road in 1871 when George Uglow Pope, a prominent Tamil scholar, paid Rs 47,000 for the site. Under Pope’s able hand, Bishop Cotton became one of the most well-established schools in Bangalore. But sadly, it went into decline soon after Pope left to take up a new position at Oxford.
It was only after a member of the St Peters Brotherhood took over that the school was pulled back from the brink of closure. Even today, Bishop Cotton celebrates St Peter’s day with great gusto and fervour.
It has stood firm over the centuries and has even garnered the sobriquet, ‘Eton of the East’ and boasts of stellar alumni that include Nandan Nilekani, General K S Thimmaya, Feroz Khan, and Gopal Krishna Pillai (IAS Officer and former Home Secretary of India).
St Joseph’s Boys High School
In 1848, Bishop Bonnaud drew up a plan to set up a Catholic high school in Bangalore. But it was only in 1854, when a group of priests from the Missions Etrangeres de Paris (MEP) built St. Joseph’s Seminary, which housed a school as well as an orphanage. The aim was to provide education to underprivileged European and Anglo Indian children.
Over the next century, the school separated itself from the orphanage, which was shifted to St. Patrick’s Church, got affiliated with Madras University, and changed its location altogether to its present location on Museum Road.
By the late 1920s, the institution had expanded to three distinct divisions – St. Joseph’s European High School, St. Joseph’s Indian High School, and St. Joseph’s College. In 1968, St. Joseph’s European High School became St. Joseph’s Boys High School, and because of an ever increasing number of students, the boarding house was closed to cater to day scholars.
Today, the school is run by the Society of Jesus or Jesuits and counts Sabeer Bhatia, Rahul Dravid, Robin Uthappa, Mario Miranda, Nikhil Chinnappa, Raghava KK, and Prakash Raj amongst its illustrious alumni.
Sacred Heart Girls High School
Sacred Heart Girls High School was founded by a group of sisters who belonged to the Good Shepherd Convent in 1854. The Good Shepherd was an institution set up by St Mary Euphrasia Pelletier for serving the needs of the common people. She was a firm believer in quality education for all, particularly for socially ostracised women. She felt that education was the key to a complete and well-developed person psychologically, socially and spiritually.
St Mary Euphrasia sent a group of five sisters from France to Bangalore to participate in various activities of the Good Shepherd Convent. One of them was the setting up of the Boarding and Day School for Europeans and Anglo Indians, now known as Sacred Heart High School.
St Patrick’s High School
Legend has it that before 1850, the grounds where St Patrick’s High School currently stands were used as a stable yard for elephants and camels. St Patrick’s Church was built in 1844 making it one of the oldest churches in Bangalore and it was Father Anthony Mary Tabard who set up an orphanage on these grounds. In the 1890s, Father Tabard initiated the construction of a stone building, which was the first building that housed the school.
The school played its part during wartime years when the carpentry classes churned out thousands of knitting needles to help make clothes for the soldiers. Teachers pitched in for war funds, and the school gained recognition.
By the 1960s, the school had become prominent enough to be the recipient of financial aid from the government. By then the school had separated itself from the orphanage and added a high school section. Over the years, St Patrick’s has established itself as a provider of education for children who come from all walks of life. Even today, the school accepts underprivileged children who are supported by Church Education Fund.
