THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As part of the year-long Asheethi celebrations being held at St Mary’s Higher Secondary School, Pattom—one of the largest schools in Asia in terms of the student strength—an art gallery and museum displaying the history of the school, its formation and achievements will be inaugurated on Friday.
Governor Arif Muhammad Khan will be the chief guest at the function, which will be presided over by Major Archbishop of Thiruvananthapuram Moran Mor Baselios Cleemis Catholicos. MLA VK Prasanth, councillor VS Thresiamma, principal John CC, and vice-principal Aby Abraham will be present at the function.
The school which was set up in 1940 with just 12 teachers and about 260 students now has over 13,000 students. Last year, about 1,768 students appeared for the Class X examination and 836 for Class XII exams.
Principal John CC was recently awarded the National Education Award by the Delhi-based Economic Forum for Health and Educational Growth for his contribution in the field of education. A modern library is also being set up at the school with the mission to collect about 1 lakh books.
At present, there are about 40,015 books in the school library. The school also has a high-tech auditorium with a seating capacity of 5,000. It actively promotes extracurricular activities such as quiz, debate, elocution, acting and also conducts photography exhibition every year. A short film festival is also being conducted in the school.A digital magazine will also be released after the inauguration of the St Mary’s Museum and art gallery.