Established as an orphanage for females by a group of Scottish philanthropists serving in the armed forces in 1847, the co-ed Bombay Scottish School is now routinely ranked among Mumbai’s best

Ranked Mumbai’s no. 1 primary-cum-secondary school in the Delhi-based Outlook weekly’s survey of schools across the country (December 16, 2002), Bombay Scottish School (BSS) has come a long way since it was established as the Scottish Female Orphanage in 1847. Then sited in Byculla, south Mumbai, the girls orphanage was promoted by a group of Scottish philanthropists serving in the armed forces. In 1855, a parallel institution was promoted for male orphans and in 1859 the two elementary schools were amalgamated under the name and style of The Bombay Male and Female Orphanage. Four years later the amalgamated institution was abbreviated to Bombay Scottish Orphanage. The first general meeting of subscribers to the Bombay Scottish Orphanage Trust was held on February 18, 1867 when the Bombay Scottish Orphanage Society, as it is known today, was established with its own constitution and rules.

A decade later in 1878, BSS moved to its present premises on the Mahim sea face. The impeccably maintained, period stone buildings comprise 60 classrooms, three well-equipped science laboratories and a large library containing 20,000 volumes. The school’s supportive infrastructure includes three assembly halls with a cumulative capacity of 1,000, a boardroom with advanced multimedia learning systems, well-maintained gardens as well as sprawling grounds with excellent sports facilities, including a basketball court of international standards. Currently the aggregate enrollment of this highly-rated school which follows the syllabus of the Delhi-based Council of Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), is 2,772 students of both sexes instructed by a faculty of 100.

Though essentially a Christian school, which subscribes to Christian values, BSS offers contemporary, liberal kindergarten-class XII education to children of all religious persuasions and denominations. “We have thrown open our doors to children of all communities, though we reserve a variable percentage of our annual intake for children from the minority Christian community. Within this framework our prime objective is the comprehensive development- physical, mental, social, emotional, moral and spiritual of our students. The school’s programmes and activities are planned in terms of attaining these holistic education goals,” says D.P.N. Prasad, a history and education alumnus of Madras and Annamalai universities who served as principal of St. Johns Higher Secondary School, Tiruchirapalli (Tamil Nadu) for five years before taking charge of BSS in 1999.

According to prasad, teaching methodologies at BSS have been designed in accordance with the capabilities of children of different age groups, beginning with informal fun-oriented lesson plans at the pre-school stage, followed by semi-formal pedagogies in early primary school and progressively more formal academic education in middle and senior school. “The use of contemporary infotech and computer technologies is integrated into the school’s curriculum,” says Prasad.

This gradualist education system has quite evidently served BSS well, judging by the school’s consistently high performance in the ICSE board exams. “Our class X performance is of a very high standard. In the ICSE exams held in March 2004, 19 students from the total 188 who wrote the exams averaged more than 90 percent, while 86 averaged more than 80 percent. Of course everyone passed,” says Prasad.

Moreover, in keeping with the BSS management’s emphasis on non-academic education as well, its students have distinguished themselves in swimming, badminton, karate and table tennis among other sports. Says Prasad: “Academics apart, we try to give our students maximum exposure to the environment in which they live. With this objective in mind, project work beyond routine classroom situations is encouraged, and students are given opportunities to make site visits and include outdoor activities in the learning process. For instance, the school arranges for standard IX pupils to visit municipal ward offices to acquire first- hand insights into the working of local self-government institutions in urban areas.”

Extra-curricular education apart, BSS is equally focused on co-curricular activities. The school boasts 13 clubs to nurture the diverse interests of its students. Popular among them are the Nature Club, which received the runners-up trophy in 2003 from the World Wild Life Fund and the Adventure Club which organises excursions, camping, rifle shooting and aeromodelling.

Prasad takes particular pride in emphasising that BSS brilliant record in the all-India class X board exams has been consistently attained without resorting to the ubiquitous practice of expelling less-than-brilliant students. “We get to the root of the problem and address it,” he says. “We have nurtured an experienced pool of remedial counsellors and volunteer parents to help slow learners. Moreover we believe in getting the parents involved in school activities as much as possible. In fact the PTA (parent teacher association) is really the heart and soul of the school.”

With the demand for admissions into BSS rising every year, in 1997 the management promoted a new branch in the far-flung suburb of Powai. Today BSS (Powai) has 1,500 students on its muster roll, while plans for further expansion of the Bombay Scottish group are in a formative stage. “We hope to set up a new higher secondary school within the next few years which will offer the syllabus of the Geneva-based Interna-tional Baccalaureate Organisation. And given the continuous pressure for admissions, we might well promote another kindergarten-class XII school in the future. Therefore we are examining the possibilities of establishing a residential school somewhere between Mumbai and Pune, with an IB curriculum at an affordable price,” says Prasad. 

Admission & fees

The school academic year begins in June. Application forms are issued in October. There are no interviews or tests for admission. The forms are segregated according to the following norms:

Preferance is given to Anglo Indians, Christians, siblings of current students and children of past students.

Tuition fee: Rs.15,000 per annum

Admission fee: Rs.1,000

For the remaining seats, preferance is given to children of professionals, especially civil servants. Acceptance and rejection letters are sent out to all who apply.

For further information contact the principal, Bombay Scottish School, Veer Savarkar Marg, Mahim, Mumbai 400 016. Ph: 244 534 60; E-mail: bomscottish155@ hotmail.com; website: www.bombayscottish.com.

Gaver Chatterjee (Mumbai)