BENGALURU: With the development of Chamarajapet came the opening of the first Anglo-vernacular school in the pete area. The 110-year-old building of the Fort High School still stands strong, opposite Bangalore Medical College and adjacent to Kote Venkataramana temple in Makkala Koota Circle.
History
There was a school earlier, run by the Fort Church in the fort vicinity in the late 19th century, says the independent researcher and historian Arun Prasad. “After the plan for Chamarajpet was laid out in 1892, the area underwent several changes. The Fort Church was demolished to construct Minto Hospital and the government of Mysore gave land in Chamarajpet to construct a new church. It is now called St Luke’s Church. The Fort School was also shifted to the present building. It was earlier called English Vernacular School. The school was also meant to introduce Kannada in the English school. Under the patronage of Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV, several developments in the industrial and educational sector happened. Many schools and educational institutions were established during the beginning of the 20th century. The present building was built in 1907 under the Dewan’s rule.”
Mansoor Ali from Bengaluru by Foot says, “The Fort School now stands where the Mysore gate of the fort was erected. It was the Southern gate of the fort. In 1791, the soldiers of Tipu Sultan were martyred by the British here.”
The Mysore gate was splendid and ornate, says Arun Prasad.
“The gate was said to be so massive that even an elephant could pass through easily.”
Mansoor adds, “It is also said that the stone used in making the compound wall of the school was the same used to construct the Bangalore Fort.”
The School Development and Management Committee says, “The school held classes for eight languages then. Telugu, Tamil, Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit, Hindi, English and Kannada were taught as first languages.”
Alumni of the School
The school is credited to have taught many popular personalities such as the freedom fighter H S Doreswamy, the former cricketer Gundappa Vishwanath, politician V S Krishna Iyer and actor Shakti Prasad. The School Development and Management Committee says, “Krishna Iyer adopted the school and renovated it during his tenure as MP. Also, Shakti Prasad served as a PE teacher from 1968 to 1986.”
H S Doreswamy studied in the Fort High School from 1932 to 1935 and passed his SSLC in first class. Speaking to City Express, he says, “It is the oldest government school in the city where the rich and poor studied together. Also, the Muslim students used to study here. They had a separate section. I still remember they had their classes in Section D. The school was only for boys then. The school had reputation for its sports activities such as tennis and volley ball. The school had a strong volleyball team.”
The school became co-educational about 15 to 20 years ago, says the school committee.
It was one of the prestigious educational institutions. There were many good teachers as well, Doreswamy recalls, adding, “There was a headmaster by name Rasarao. He would always say an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Sir M Visvesvaraya was our Maths teacher. Also, there was another teacher A M Natesh Mudaliar. He was a MA in Maths. He later became the director of Akashwani. He was also a good actor.”
The medium of instruction during his schooling was English, he says adding, “When N S Subba Rao became the director of public instruction, he brought in Kannada as the medium of instruction, may be in 1940 or 1942.”
Ramnavami Celebrations
Sri Rama Seva Mandali organises Ramnavami every year at the school grounds. The ground has witnessed a grand affair of month-long programmes where several well-known classical and Hindustani singers from across the country have performed. The celebrations that began from the 1940s continue to date. Popular singer Yesudas has also performed here last year.
Present Condition
The school offers classes for five languages now – English, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada and Sanskrit. The number of students have come down drastically. There used to be a strength of about 2,500 students during those times, says the School Development and Management Committee. “Currently, there are only 170 students. Parents do not seem to be interested to visit the school. We have students mostly from the slum and they do not take studies so seriously.”
Doreswamy also insists that the government should do something to improve the academic standards of the school. “Now only the poor students who cannot afford education go to this school. No one from rich families study here because the academic quality has deteriorated. The government should improve the quality of education and employ good teachers to attract more students.”
The school authority attributes the deterioration to the establishment of many schools in the same locality. “We provide all the facilities in the school such as mid-day meal, scholarships and note books but many parents now prefer private schools.”