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Night School |
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Started
in 1948, St. Xavier’s Night High School had humble beginnings and
limited goals. The then Parish priest of St. Francis Xavier’s Church,
Dabul, noticed that there were a number of young men in the goan clubs
of the vicinity, who would well devote some of their evening hours to
learning English, which would also help their job prospects. This task
was handed over to a group of young men, fired with an ideology of
reaching out and helping people, in whatever way they could, and who
called themselves The Young Men’s Sodality. |
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From the teaching of English, the
curriculum soon embraced mathematics, history and geography. And yes,
it did not take long before it developed into a regular school with
fixed hours, periodic tests and exams. Recognition of the School came
in 1959 and its first batch of SSC students appeared in 1963 with an
overall apssing of 95% with one student even scoring a distinction. |
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Education took a progressive turn, for
Night School students, in the early 80’s with the Education Department
permitting students to appear directly for the SSC exams, privately.
The only condition being that they must be 16 years of age and passed
Std. IV. This evidently saw many students taking this quick route
forward instead of going through the drudgery of ten long years at
evening classes. |
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In the number of students of the
Primary Section had decreased necessitating the closing of this
section. In 2000, the Secondary Section would have met with the same
fate as its numbers were dwindling too, but the Education Department
felt that the Xavier’s Night School was the only English medium Night
High School in South Mumbai, besides it had a good record for students
discipline, progress as well as doing well in the SSC Board exams. |
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As of
2005 the school has a total of hundred students spread over Std. V to
Std. X. They come from as far as Virar in the western Suburbs and
Vashi in the Central Line. The staff too come from far off and are a
dedicated and committed lot. The Chairman of the Xavier’s trust, Fr.
Francis D’Mello, in a recent visit to the school, commended the
students on their consistency, perseverance and hard work |
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The
school tries to have an extra-curricular programme which would compete
with that of any day school. So there is a Sports Day, picnic,
Celebrations on Teacher’s Day, Christmas and the Patron of the school,
St. Francis Xavier. There are inter class tournaments, Farewell to the
outgoing class. There is also participation in the inter-school
Science Exhibition organized at the ward level. The academic year is
brought to a close with the Annual Day. |
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