Mumbai, Feb 17 (PTI) Bombay Scottish School, established in February 1847 by Scottish missionaries as a boys’ orphanage for their Presbyterian soldiers, will complete 175 years of its establishment on Friday.
The second oldest school in the megapolis is the alma mater of many personalities like NSE chief executive Vikram Limaye, and many film stars, including John Abraham, Ranbir Kapoor, Hrithik Roshan and Abhishek Bachchan.
Others include producer Ekta Kapoor and state minister Aditya Thackeray, according to the school’s principal Sunita George.
It is the oldest school after the Christ Church School established in 1815 in the city.
In its 175 years of public service, the school has educated 14,000 students and is home to 3,000 now with 200-250 students graduating annually.
George said the anniversary celebrations will begin with a virtual concert — an amalgam of music, dance, recitation and acting —involving every child of the school. Thereafter, on 18th of each month till February 18, 2023, a competition/fun event will be held to commemorate the occasion.
Explaining the reason for the low student turnout, she said till 1947, there were only kids under 10 years of age, primarily because it was open only to orphaned sons of Scottish Presbyterian soldiers first.
It was first named as Orphanage for the Sons of Presbyterians and from 1859 orphaned girls were admitted, and then the institution was renamed as the Bombay Presbyterian Male and Female Orphanage.
The student intake touched 100 only in 1957.
Scottish Presbyterian soldiers came to India as part of the East India Company.
The school/orphanage was initially opened in Byculla for the orphaned sons of Presbyterian soldiers, then for kids of Scottish immigrants and finally for kids of Indian Navy seamen. In 1904, the school began to admit English children and later on non-European day-scholars.
In February 1878, the school relocated to its present location along the Mahim Bay in central Bombay and began to run as a boarding school for both girls and boys.
At present, there are no Scots in the management of the school, which is run by the Bombay Scottish Orphanage Society. PTI BEN ANU ANU
