St. George's School, Chennai

St. George's Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School
St Georges School Chennai "Trust in god and do the right"
Address
St. George's Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School
738 EVR Salai Shenoy Nagar Chennai, Tamil Nadu, 600030 India
Coordinates	13°04′36″N 80°13′55″E / 13.07667°N 80.23194°E / 13.07667; 80.23194Coordinates: 13°04′36″N 80°13′55″E / 13.07667°N 80.23194°E / 13.07667; 80.23194
Information
Founded	1715
Principal	G.K. Francis
Nickname	St. George's
Affiliation	Anglo Indian Board for Secondary Education

St George's School was founded in 1715 as the Military (later Madras) Male Orphan Asylum and is one of the oldest schools in the world and the oldest in India.^[1] It is affiliated to the Anglo-Indian Board of Education.

It is situated in the heart of the city in Shenoy Nagar, a bustling area in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. The school has red brick buildings on a land area of 21 acres (85,000 m²), with a boarding house, dormitory, kitchen and play grounds. The school provides education to over 1500 children from nursery up to the +2 level. It has a library, NCC and a computer centre. There are 36 staff members led by the Head Master and the Correspondent.

Hockey

St George's has one of the best school hockey teams in Chennai. It has also produced many players who have represented Tamil Nadu and India at various levels.^[2]

Mr. Jason, the hockey coach of the school, trained the team. He had trained the school team for more than 28 years and his legacy lives on after his sad demise in 2012. St. Georges school had the best hockey team in chennai and were consistent winners for years together in the sub junior,junior,senior and super senior categories under his coaching.

Library

St George's library has rare books from the 18th century to date.

Heritage Structure

The chapel and the classroom block of the school are part of CMDA's 400 recognized heritage structures in the city.^[3]

Controversies

Fee structure increase

In June 2012 there were news reports of increase in fee structure which was not in conformance with the fee structure set by Anglo-Indian Board, further to this there were protest by parents which resulted in ten parents being arrested and later released by Chennai Police.^[4]

Public events

There were further allegations about school premises being misused for public events and other private events (including movie audio releases), although school principal R. Paul Victor Samuel maintained that these allegations were baseless.^[5]

Renovation of old structure

The Manorial Conway House, a century old building in the school campus was renovated and resulted in concerns from heritage activists. The school correspondent Mr. G.K. Francis clarified that part of the building had to be renovated since it was not safe for the children. He also clarified that only the Chapel was part of the heritage structure listed by CMDA and others are not and does not require permission from CMDA.^[6]

Tercentenary celebrations

Tercentenary Sporting activities

St George's school's tercentenary celebrations were held between 23 April 2015 and 25 April 2015, the celebrations included sporting activities including old and new students, a carnival and a Christmas dance.^[7] There was also an on-stage performance from the band called "Second Coming" (St George's alumni).^[8]

These celebrations (called "Georgian reunion") brought many old students back to the campus, the sporting activities included hockey, football and cricket for men and throw ball for women.

References