South Point High School - Ballygunge

Kolkata on 1 April 1954 was, well, a quite different city. The Independence of the country was only seven years old. India was practically reborn and so were its cities. Kolkata, still, had much more green and open expanses of land. Its southern parts were sparsely populated and this cozy community was waiting for an educational institution where learning and growing up would happen in a happy and innovative environment. A new nest that would teach their little ones to fly on confident wings.

South Point School, an English-medium and co-educational school, opening its gates at 16 Mandeville Gardens on 1 April 1954, was an answer to the community’s prayers.

It captured the popular imagination since the moment of its foundation. Shri Satikanta Guha and Smt. Pritylata Guha, Founder and Associate Founder of the School, nurtured earliest Pointers – just twenty in number — with an inspired mix of love, care and utmost responsibility. To help the Founders fulfil their vision and mission was a handful of dedicated teachers. And, the initial faculty was an enviable collection of stalwarts from the cultural, literary and artistic milieu of Bengal. Their genius improved manifold the ambience of creative purposefulness so that every child who crossed the gates of the early, quaint bungalow knew his or her potential would never be left unfulfilled.

The School which had welcomed twenty children in a distant summer has spread its rainbow wings in much the same way as its students have. The journey, taken since 1954, has been a magical one, marked by splendid milestones. The comely bungalow soon grew into newer, bigger buildings so that it could bring more and more children into its fold. The early faculty handed the batons over to a burgeoning number of teachers who were equally committed and fully trained to keep up with the changing times. South Point High School was the first co-educational School in the city to be affiliated to the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education. The first School Final batch was sent up in 1958.

April seems to be the happiest month in the evolution of South Point. On another 1 April – this time in 1960 – it was upgraded to the Higher Secondary level. The High School found a new, and the present, premises on 8 April 1970 at 82/7A Ballygunge Place. The School is now run by the South Point Education Society.

The growing family of South Point has the rare distinction of winning a place in the Guinness Book of Records (1984-1992) as the world’s largest School.

A persistent commitment to excellence, success, hard work, compassion, a collaborative atmosphere and brave technological strides is a tough job but the large South Point family – now consisting of nearly 12,000 students, 475 teachers and 259 non-teaching staff-members – carries it on tirelessly every day. The huge team of students and staff is not a deterrent; it just means more minds, more hands and more hearts to plant and rear saplings of excellence in every classroom of South Point.

Education at South Point is a delightful pool of academics, assessments, co-curricular activities, fests, sports, celebrations, excursions and a seamless interaction among the faculty, the pupils and the guardians. The goal is actually to inspire Pointers to strive beyond goals; a look at the South Point alumni proves the point. Former Pointers straddle the spheres of scholarship and films; of music and public administration; of science and medicine; of literature, journalism, corporate houses and sports with exceptional ease.

The campus that greets little Pointers and grooms them for the team sport called life is South Point School. It has Nursery, Transition and Classes from I to V. Students then graduate to South Point High School to join Class VI. From Classes VI to X they study under the Central Board of Secondary Education. A majority of Pointers return to their dear alma mater for the Plus-Two years, Classes XI and XII, under the Central Board of Secondary Education. It may be mentioned here that South Point had earlier been affiliated to both the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education and the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education. Now, its pupils appear for their Board examinations under CBSE only.

Every day begins in South Point with bolder strides towards excellence — in carefree Nursery playrooms, in Smart Class rooms, in the most rewarding Mindspark programme, in assemblies where each and every important occasion is celebrated with gusto, across classrooms, laboratories and libraries, in CCA sessions, in sports practices, in Saturday Activity Classes, in the friendlier yet sharper evaluation methods, and in all the candid interactive and orientation sessions meant for parents. The result is clearly seen in Pointers fetching top honours in Board examinations, inter-school competitions and in all areas where they can discover and project their talent and skills. The School perennially encourages them with awards and scholarships, workshops and enrichment programmes.

And, now, its campuses are an even happier and more secure zone as the South Point Education Society has received the OHSAS 18001:2007 Occupational Health and Safety Management Certification from the British Standards Institution (BSI).

A splendid milestone in post-Independent Kolkata – that’s what South Point has been. And will be, taking on new challenges and fulfilling newer expectations.