St. Mary’s Higher Secondary School, Pattom, one of the largest schools in Asia in terms of student strength, is set to celebrate its 80th anniversary on Friday.
Minister for Education C. Ravindranath will inaugurate the celebration at a function, to be presided over by Major Archbishop of Thiruvananthapuram Moran Mor Baselios Cleemis Catholicos. Mayor V.K. Prasanth, councillor V.S. Thresiamma, Principal C.C. John, and vice principal Aby Abraham will be present.
Under the Malankara Syrian Catholic Church, the school was set up in 1940 with 12 teachers and 260 students. Today, it has over 13,000 students and more than 400 teachers.
The school regularly posts good results, and sends the maximum number of students for the Class X and XII examinations. This year, all students who appeared for the SSLC examinations passed, while the pass percentage in the Plus Two examinations was 96%.
It has modern amenities such as a vast library with over 50,000 books, playground, high-tech auditorium, and high-tech classrooms for Classes IX to XII.
It has its own school radio, provides Civil Services training, and actively promotes extracurricular activities such as debate, quiz, elocution, acting, and film-making. It has separate cricket and basketball academies.
Its alumni are spread across the world and include renowned names.