St. Mary’s School , Mazagaon , Mumbai

St. Mary’s School, ICSE is 158 years old. It is a Jesuit Institution and a member of the Catholic Archdiocesan Board of Education affiliated to the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination, New Delhi. It began in the year 1864. Its location on Nesbit Road takes us back to the philanthropist couple, Andrew and Rose Nesbit. The Nesbit Trust can be said to have indirectly paved the way for the growth of St. Mary’s. This school was an orphanage and a school for non – orphans which was opened at Parel on December 14, 1852. The Jesuit Fathers had been seriously considering in 1860 and even earlier the question of building a school of their own where they could stay permanently. On June 7, 1864, the building was ready for possession. Built of blue stone, the structure is 108 feet long and 37 feet wide, with an upper storey for classrooms and above this, a dormitory along its whole length, covered by a solid roof of corrugated iron. It forms the oldest part of St. Mary’s, and it was so well done that it has never needed more than trifling repairs. Under the Spanish Fathers’ management, St. Mary’s European High School did well all round – in academics, sports, theatre and the school band, which had always been noticed and won commendation, performing on the Bombay Radio Station. In 1939, the school celebrated 75 years of its existence (1864-1939) with great pomp. The 150th anniversary celebrations was inaugurated by one of its most famous alumnus — world-renowned music conductor Mr. Zubin Mehta. Mr. Mehta was in the country to perform at a concert in Srinagar. He had graduated from the school in 1951. After a gap of nearly 46 years, Mr. Mehta visited the school again. He launched the year-long celebrations, starting September 11, by unveiling a logo specially created for the occasion. Mr. Mehta expressed great pride in being an ex-student of the institution and has a deep sense of nostalgia for the school & inaugurating the 150 years celebrations was a double delight for the school. In particular, excellence in education is measured not by the quality of the work produced by the ablest students but by the degree to which every student has realised his full potentialities.