Consider this: a school built the same year as the Suez Canal. That is St. Xavier’s High School. It stands here in Fort Mumbai. It is more than just bricks and mortar. St. Xavier’s High School is a gateway to history. It is a testament to Jesuit education.
Founded in 1869 by Jesuit priests, St. Xavier’s High School has a rich past. The Society of Jesus established it. St. Ignatius of Loyola founded the order in 1540. The school’s motto is Duc in Altum. This Latin phrase means Launch out into the deep.
Imagine Bombay in 1869. It was a bustling port city. The Bombay port was the Gateway to India. St. Xavier’s High School opened its doors. It welcomed students from diverse backgrounds. Catholics Hindus Parsis Christians Muslims and Jews all studied here.
Initially, St. Mary’s on Cavel Street students joined St. Xavier’s. By 1870, the school had eight grades and a seminary. St. Mary’s boys and seminarians could board here. The top floor housed sixteen Jesuits.
Music played a vital role early on. Singing harmonium piano flute and violin were taught from 1873. Cricket started in 1874. Football followed in 1896. German priests originally ran the school. During World War I, they were interned. Jesuits from Spain and Switzerland replaced them.
In 1936, five St. Xavier’s graduates ranked among the top twenty in the Matriculation Examination. Over 7000 students took the test. The East Wing finished in 1940. It included a hall that could hold 700 people. A night school opened in 1948.
St. Xavier’s High School occupies its original neo-Gothic building. Fragments of history remain visible. Stuffed hunted animals shot by priests adorn the corridors. These date back to the British Raj. A butterfly and bird collection is on the first floor. A stuffed tiger is on the third floor. The Maharaja of Vanzra Gujarat donated the tiger. He was a student here. Brother Navarro a Spanish Jesuit created the butterfly and bird collection. He was a naturalist. He worked at the school.
A piece of a ship’s propeller sits in the primary quadrangle. It landed there during the Bombay Harbour Explosion of 1944. St. Xavier’s is approaching its 150th jubilee.
St. Xavier’s follows the SSC board of Maharashtra. Classes run from standard one to ten. The primary and secondary schools have separate buildings. Each class has four sections. About fifty students are in each section.
Students belong to one of four houses. They are Claver Gonzaga Britto and Berchmans. These houses were once named Ashoka Tilak Nehru and Tagore. Each house has a captain and vice-captain. The school also elects a school captain and vice-captain. There is a sports captain and vice sports captain too.
St. Xavier’s High School has produced many notable alumni. Sunil Gavaskar captained the Indian cricket team. Charles Correa was a renowned architect. Adi Godrej is a businessman. Rais Khan was a musician. Julio Ribeiro served as Mumbai’s Police Commissioner.
The school boasts a Natural History Museum. It is the largest in western India after the Chhatrapathi Shivaji Sanghralaya. The museum features over 2300 bird specimens. It has 250 kinds of bird eggs and 75 specimens of bats amphibians reptiles and mammals.
From humble beginnings in a rented house to its current sprawling campus, St. Xavier’s High School stands as a beacon of education. It is a place where boys become men and legacies are forged. As you stand here take a moment to appreciate the history and tradition that permeates every corner of St. Xavier’s High School.