Students of Calcutta Girls: Marching ahead

It is celebration time for Calcutta Girls High School (CGHS). And the reason is up for display at the Prinsep Street school.

One the city?s premier educational institutions, CGHS will be turning 150 this month-end. A week-long birthday bonanza will be starting from July 31. A whole gamut of events has been lined up, for which the guest list shimmers with the likes of Kiran Bedi, Rajdeep Sardesai and adman Suhel Seth.

In the 150th year of its being, Calcutta Girls High School is also poised to offer the city a degree college. The college (to be dedicated to Reverend John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Movement), is expected to open by the beginning of the next academic year.

CGHS chairman Reverend Samuel R. Thomas says: ?The school had humble beginnings, but today it is one of the best- known educational institutions in the city, and we feel the quality of education imparted by this establishment can be translated into providing exclusive educational degrees to the women and girls at the collegiate level as well.?

If that is cause for future pride, the present is all about raising a toast to past achievements and tradition.

The curtains to the sesquicentennial party will be raised with a Thanksgiving Service at the Thoburn Methodist Church on July 31. This will be followed by an exhibition on the school premises. A symposium on Empowerment of the girl child will have Kiran Bedi as one of the speakers.

A highlight of the week-long festivities is the musical extravaganza ?Colour and creation?, to be held at the Science City auditorium, where almost 700 students will be taking the stage.

The GD Birla Sabhagar has been booked to play battlefield to a war of words on the the motion ?This house believes that the MTV Generation is Empty We?, with adman Seth and mediaman Sardesai donning war paint. The celebrations conclude on August 6 with Nostalgia, a programme on the history of Calcutta Girls High School and its tradition, along with important milestones and a special mention of the school?s alumni.

Says principal Montoo Rakhit: ?An institution celebrating 150 years is always extra special and we are aiming to make this occasion unforgettable for everyone who will be attending the festivities. The efforts put in by the students and the administration have been superb.?

Although the theme of the celebrations will be the 150th year of the school, the administration, Rakhit says, is also focussing on topics which are relevant today, especially among the youth.