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Brief History and Profile of the School
The citizens of Patiala need no introduction to
Modern
Senior Secondary School, Patiala.
This institution has been serving this historical city with
sincerity and dedication ever since its inception on the 9th
January, 1948, when Sardar Mohan Singh, the Author of Saraswati
Vidyak Trust, founded the school with a far reaching vision to
serve the cause of education in an innovative manner. At that,
time the older schools continued to cling to the tradition of
separate education for boys and girls. The city needed an
independent co-educational high school that would maintain the
excellent standards available in the public schools and would
also be sensitive to the ever changing concepts of learning.
Thus conceived, the school developed its independent formidable
character.
The school started functioning in an old rented building with
spacious grounds. The first Principal of the school, Mrs. Jai
Chopra started with the first batch of just six students. With a
missionary zeal, she set about nurturing the budding sapling
into a flourishing and fruiting tree. Under the patronage of S.
Mohan Singh and the administrative skills of Mrs. Chopra the
school crossed one hurdle after another and soon became one of
the leading schools of Patiala.
After the demise of Sardar Mohan Singh, the Founder President,
the responsibility of the school fell on the shoulders of
Sardarni Raj Mohan Singh. Like her late husband, she also
devoted herself to the welfare and growth of the school. Though
not an educationist herself, she intuitively knew what was best
for the school. Her loving and helpful attitude always
encouraged the management and the staff of the school. Her
loving and motherly concern about others inspired everyone who
had the good fortune to work under her guidance.
From October, 1987 onwards, the whole responsibility for
managing the affairs of the school was bestowed on Dr. Ravi
Singh, as “President” of the school, also a trustee of the
Saraswati Vidyak Trust. He holds a Doctorate in international
Law. Being a renowned scholar himself, he has a very progressive
outlook towards education and this has been a blessing for the
school. Being a sacred soul with modern outlook, he is well
aware the compulsions of modern life and hence understands the
need for an educational system which would be compatible with
the socio-cultural ethos of our times. Therefore, he always
welcomes new ideas and innovations that would help the school to
forge ahead. Under his patronage, able and continuing
stewardship and farsighted vision, owing to his higher education
and working exposure of over two decades in several advanced
countries of the world, the school has vastly expanded both in
terms of size and quality of output.
Mrs. Chopra was elevated to the post of Director on 31st August,
1986 while the role of Principal was bestowed on Mrs. Reena
Sophat, who continued to consolidate on the progress made by the
school and helped the school to reach newer heights. On
1st September, 2001,
she became the Executive Director and Mrs. Pratibha Sharma took
over as Principal. On retirement of Mrs. Pratibha Sharma on 30th
June, 2005, Mrs. Gursharan Kaur Aurora took over as Principal with zealous
responsibility of steering the school to still newer heights of
success and accomplishments.
The buildings and the vast grounds housing the school were later
purchased by the school. Over the last six decades several new
class rooms, Laboratories, Nursery, Home Science Room, a fully
computerized Library and a Computer Hall have been constructed.
This sprawling complex adequately meets the academic and
co-curricular needs of more than 2500 students.
However,
it is not just bricks and mortar that make an institution. It is
the values and ideals that it propagates. The aim of this school
has always been to impart an education which is in tune with the
rich cultural ethos of the Indian society. The school does not
believe in the concept of producing pseudo westerners divorced
from the realties of Indian life. Although the good points of
the western systems of education are incorporated into our mode
of teaching, yet we ensure that our students cultivate the
enduring virtues of the rich Indian ideological and cultural
heritage through a judicious blend of the traditional and modern
ways of teaching.
The motto of the school is “KNOWLEDGE IS LIGHT” and the
aim of the school is to illumine the minds and souls of its
students with the light of knowledge and enduring human values
so that they may become good and responsible citizens not only
of this country but of the world as well.
During the last 60 eventful years, the school has crossed
many milestones, some of which are summarized below:
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9th January, 1948 |
The school was founded on this day by Sardar Mohan Singh ,the
Author of Saraswati Vidyak Trust with only six students in
an old rented building with spacious grounds. The building
as well as the grounds was later purchased by the Saraswati
Vidyak Trust for the school. Over the last 60 years, many
new wings have been added to the humble two room structure
and today the school can boast of sprawling buildings that
adequately cater to the needs of more than 2500 students. |
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28th March, 1955 |
The school was granted provisional
recognition by the Director of Public Instructions (Pepsu),
Patiala. |
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1st April,1959 |
Permanent recognition was granted to the
school by the DPI,
Punjab. |
|
1st April, 1961 |
The school was upgraded to a
Higher Secondary School. |
|
9th January, 1973 |
The school celebrated its Silver Jubilee with great fanfare. It
was time
to rejoice at its success, and a time to take stock of its
shortcomings. The school rededicated itself to the service
of its students. |
|
1st May, 1987 |
Another important landmark was crossed when the school was
granted affiliation to the Punjab School Education Board for
Senior Secondary Examination in the session 1987-88. The
school offers four streams of subjects namely: Medical, Non-
Medical, Commerce and Humanities, to its Senior Secondary
students. |
|
October, 1987 |
Dr. Ravi Singh took over as President of the School and the
Chairman of the Managing Committee. |
|
April, 1989 |
The House System was introduced in the school. The students
were divided into four Houses named after the four major
seasons namely Basant, Greesham, Varsha and Hemant. The
colours of these Houses are yellow, red, Green and Blue
respectively. |
|
1st May, 1990 |
Appreciating the need for catering to the
wide ranging interests and aspirations of the students, a
number of subjects were added to the ones already being
offered to the students of the Humanities group. As a
result, the students can now choose from the following
subjects:
1.
Punjabi Literature
2.
Hindi Literature
3.
English Literature
4.
Economics
5.
Political Science
6.
History
7.
Psychology
8.
Home Science
9.
Mathematics
10.
Dance
11.
Physical Education
12.
Computer Science |
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April, 1992 |
The first issue of the school journal named 'Mashal' was
launched under the initiative and editorship of Mrs.
Gursharan Kaur Aurora. The name of the magazine was later
changed to 'Saraswati' which also symbolizes the name of the
Trust that manages the School. |
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July,1993 |
Nature decided to play havoc. Torrential rains brought about a
flood which caused wide spread devastation in
Patiala. The school was inundated and destroyed many of the
assets so lovingly and carefully garnered by the school.
However, the Management, staff and the students rose to the
occasion and with an indomitable spirit started the task of
rebuilding all that was destroyed.
The library, so painstakingly
put together over the years, was completely destroyed. The
laboratories also bore the brunt of the deluge. Instead of
moping over the loss, the school set about restocking them
and soon we had a brand new well stocked, fully air-
conditioned Library as well as fully equipped laboratories.
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January 9, 1998 |
The school completed 50 years of its existence. It was a time
for rejoicing as well as introspection. The times were
changing, so the school policy shifted to a dynamic amalgam
of traditional and modern modes of teaching. |
|
April, 2004 |
At the instant demand of the parents, the Senior Secondary
classes which hitherto admitted only to girl students, were
opened to boys as well. |
|
April, 2005 |
As the modern world is fast becoming a cyber world , Computer
Science was introduced as an elective subject in Senior
Secondary (Humanities). |
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April, 2006 |
Computer Science which was being taught as a compulsory subject
from Std V to Std X was introduced in Std I and IV as well.
Keeping in mind the growing needs of the Senior Secondary
section, a new block consisting of two Lecture Halls, a
Biology Lab and a Psychology Lab was constructed. |
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JULY, 2007 |
A new bigger and modern canteen was built in place of the old
one which was too small to accommodate the growing number of
students. |
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January 8, 2008 |
The school completed 60 glorious years of its existence. The
occasion was celebrated by holding an Akhand Path of Sri
Guru Granth Sahib to thank the Almighty for His
countless blessings and to pray for the future success and
prosperity of the school. The celebration was grand success
and an unprecedented spectacle of the devotion, dedication
and participation by all and sundry of the school. |
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