Hyderabad: What do Sarojini Naidu, Nightingale of India, Rakesh Sharma, first Indian in space, and Abid Hasan Safrani, who coined ‘Jai Hind’, have in common? They are all former students of the oldest school in Telangana and also one of the oldest in the country – St. George’s Grammar School in Abids. The school will be celebrating its 190th anniversary on Friday.
Almost on the verge of shutting down during Covid-19 pandemic due to financial constraints, the school now has 4,500 students from KG to XII.
“About 1,500 parents couldn’t pay the fee during the pandemic. As we are completely dependent on fees to run the school, it became very difficult to survive. At a point, we even thought that we might have to shut down the school. But the higher management intervened, spoke to parents, gave some concessions, and managed to retain all students. Now there is no looking back,” said R Sathyanandam, special officer of the school.
The school, which was established in 1834, has a long list of stalwarts from various walks of life as its alumni. Poets Nizamat Jung and Akbas Ali Khan; sports personalities such as Khasim Ali, a table tennis player who won the Arjuna Award, Abid Ali, cricketer; Talat Aziz, playback singer; Suresh Oberoi, actor and director; and Bhavana Kasturi, an Indian army officer who made history in 2019 when she became the first woman to lead an all-male contingent in the Republic Day parade, all have studied here.
“We have families who chose our school for six to seven generations. Some of them, as old as 90 year olds, even now come to the school and attend our annual day functions,” said principal Ruth Lajwanthi, a former student.
The alumni of the school said their alma mater was one of the best in the city and was among the only two, with the Hyderabad Public School being the other, to offer the Cambridge curriculum.
“The big difference now and then was we used to be punished a lot. Being a troublemaker, I was often caned. But I feel this also helped in moulding my personality,” said Jeffery Khan, a student from the 1968 batch, who is a professor at the University of Dallas.
He said the school syllabus was so advanced then that after going to the US for his first degree, he was already familiar with many topics as he studied them in high school.
About 7,000 people are expected to attend the 190th anniversary celebrations at the school on Friday.
Almost on the verge of shutting down during Covid-19 pandemic due to financial constraints, the school now has 4,500 students from KG to XII.
“About 1,500 parents couldn’t pay the fee during the pandemic. As we are completely dependent on fees to run the school, it became very difficult to survive. At a point, we even thought that we might have to shut down the school. But the higher management intervened, spoke to parents, gave some concessions, and managed to retain all students. Now there is no looking back,” said R Sathyanandam, special officer of the school.
The school, which was established in 1834, has a long list of stalwarts from various walks of life as its alumni. Poets Nizamat Jung and Akbas Ali Khan; sports personalities such as Khasim Ali, a table tennis player who won the Arjuna Award, Abid Ali, cricketer; Talat Aziz, playback singer; Suresh Oberoi, actor and director; and Bhavana Kasturi, an Indian army officer who made history in 2019 when she became the first woman to lead an all-male contingent in the Republic Day parade, all have studied here.
“We have families who chose our school for six to seven generations. Some of them, as old as 90 year olds, even now come to the school and attend our annual day functions,” said principal Ruth Lajwanthi, a former student.
The alumni of the school said their alma mater was one of the best in the city and was among the only two, with the Hyderabad Public School being the other, to offer the Cambridge curriculum.
“The big difference now and then was we used to be punished a lot. Being a troublemaker, I was often caned. But I feel this also helped in moulding my personality,” said Jeffery Khan, a student from the 1968 batch, who is a professor at the University of Dallas.
He said the school syllabus was so advanced then that after going to the US for his first degree, he was already familiar with many topics as he studied them in high school.
About 7,000 people are expected to attend the 190th anniversary celebrations at the school on Friday.
