Methodist High School, Kanpur

Senior Building

Junior Building

Senior Building

Methodist High School (MHS Kanpur) was established in Kanpur, India in 1874^[1] as the Girls' High School by the American Missionary Educationist Isabella Thoburn, as a sister school with Isabella Thoburn College of Lucknow.

History

Established in a large thatched bungalow on the banks of the River Ganges, the school was later shifted to its present campus at 73, Cantonment. It has a large, trees abundant, compound, with four buildings: Elementary school (primary-KG), Primary School (1-5 grades) and Senior School (6-10-11 Grades), A Methodist Church is within the precincts of the school.

The school was called the Girls' High School until the 1940s even though it did admit some boys. The name was changed from the "Girls' High School" to the "Methodist High School" in 1952 at the time of the 75th year celebrations, as the boys objected to being called "boys of the Girls' High School".

The school was started to educate "Anglo-Indian" children (children of English men and their household Indian servants, who were often neglected by all sectors of society).

Post-independence developments

After independence, the school began offering nursery, primary and secondary education to children from all communities in Kanpur.^[2]

Magazine and motto

• Quisqualis (Hindi: मधू मालती), is the name of the student edited, school magazine. It is named after a flowering creeper that covers the walls of the Senior School.

• The motto of the school in Latin is "Vincit Omnia Veritas", or 'Truth Conquers All'.

Facilities

The school has large playgrounds for children.

Management

The school is run and managed by the Methodist Church of India, which also runs a number of schools and colleges in India such as the I T College, Lucknow UP, the Lucknow Christian College, the Calcutta Boys' School and the Calcutta Girls' High School, Kolkata and the Baldwin Boys High School and Baldwin Girls High School, Bangalore, to name a few.

From 1954 to 1983, the school's principal was an American, Evelyn M. Strader, from North Carolina. Evelyn Strader had taken over charge of the school from Ms Wells. She died in 2006 in the U.S.A.. Subsequently, Ms Karuna Lee became Principal of the school after Ms Strader, and was followed by Mrs Helen Brown. For three years, Mrs Y Cabral has been Acting Principal.

Notable alumni

• Subrata K.Sen - professor at Yale University, USA.
• Raja McGee (ISC batch of 1986)- Principal & Secretary of Calcutta Boys' School, Kolkata

References

1. ^ Maina Chawla Singh (2000), Gender, religion, and the "heathen lands", p. 74, ISBN 9780815328247, http://books.google.com/?id=ce8EALI4PoEC&pg=PA74 
2. ^ Vishnu Dayal Jhunjhunwala, Arvind Bharadwaj (2002-09-01), Marwaris, p. 175, ISBN 9788178351056, http://books.google.com/?id=y8m-IbeiJD8C