125 Years of St. Patrick\'s School, Karachi (1861 - 1986) (1987-1)

St. Patrick\'s was begun by the Jesuits fathers as a co-education parish school on 6th May 1861. The Daughters of the Cross arrived the next year and began St. Joseph\'s Convent for girls.
The Franciscan fathers, who took over the School from the Jesuits in 1935, handed over in turn to the priests of the Archdiocese of Karachi in 1950.
To answer the crying need of our newly independent country for diversified, job-oriented education, a Technical School was added in the 1960\'s leading to a Matric certificate or Diploma in auto-mechanics, air-conditioning and refrigeration, metal work electronics, electricity, welding and computers. Hundreds of these trained have secured well-paying jobs in the Middle East or locally.
London University Advanced Level classes began in the late 1970\'s has enabled students who passed senior Cambridge from this and other schools to qualify for admission to the best universities and professional colleges both here and abroad.
The Arts, Science and Commerce college which began in 1952 was nationalized in 1972. But the Teachers College remains under private management and its extension service called Project R.I.S.E. (Renewal and Improvement of School Education) serves 45 schools in the poorer areas of the city with its mobile unit and also organizes teachers refresher courses which are well attended.
Students of this school who have rendered noble service to God and country include the present Prime Minister of Pakistan, the Honourable Muhammad Khan Junejo; a former Governor of West Pakistan and of Sind, Mr. Yusuf Haroon; a former Premier of Sind, Mr. Muhammad Ayub Khuro.
Four Mayors of the City of Karachi have come from this school the late Ghulamali Allana, the late Manuel Misquita, Mr. Muhammad Haroon, and Mr. Yusuf Haroon. A long line of High Court Judges include the late G. M. Lobo, the late Edward Raymond and his son the late Herman Raymond; Mr. Justice Valliani, Mr. Justice Channa, Mr. Justice lmdad Agha and Mr. Justice Zahid Aslam.
Both the airways and the railways of Pakistan are headed by alumni of St. Patrick\'s: Air Marshal Azim Daudpota is the Managing Director of PIA and Mr. Joseph D\'MelIo is Chairman of the Railway Board.
Hardly a cabinet, at either Federal of Sind Government level is formed, which does not contain one or more ex-students of St. Patrick\'s. Several captains of industry and leaders of business have St. Patrick\'s as their alma mater and they include scions of the Habib, Adamjee and Galadhari families.
The nation\'s highest award for valour, the NISHAN-E-HAYDER was given to Rashid Minhas Shaheed, of the Pakistan Air Force, who also studied at St. Patrick\'s.
Outstanding sportsmen have been produced by the School in Hockey, Badminton, Table Tennis and Cricket. St. Patrick\'s made headlines in all the national papers when its School-boy team won the All-India Cabral Shield by beating the best hockey team of India in 1941-the Bhopal Wanderers.
St. Patrick\'s continues to excel in sports and in recent years has been the Inter-School District East champion of athletics, hockey, cricket, basket-ball and table- tennis. Every year, students of this school win prizes in Inter-School Art and Drawing competitions as well as in a singing, elocutions and debates.
In 1981, Faisal Muneeb, of Class X Cambridge, won the First International Prize in letter-writing organized by the Universal Postal Union. In the past few years, it won successively all the three top-prizes (first, second and third) in this letter-writing Competition at national level, organised by the Pakistan Post Office.
The Scout Troop is one of the best in this city and in 1979, Iqbal Shariff, of the Cambridge Section, was chosen on merit as the sole scout from Pakistan to represent our Country at the Australian National Jamboree.
Started over sixty years ago the School Band is one of the best brass bands in the Country made up entirely of students of this school.
Unprecedented in history is the long and loyal service of devoted and dedicated teachers, four of whom have completed their golden jubilee of service, and almost 30 have completed their silver jubilees.
Two princes of the Roman Catholic Church the first Asian Cardinal (the late Valerian Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay) and the first Pakistani Cardinal, (Dr. Joseph Cordeiro, Archbishop of Karachi) also completed their schooling at St. Patrick\'s. So did the present Archbishop of New Delhi, Dr. Angelo Fernandes. Five out of the nine Catholic Bishop of Pakistan studied at St. Patrick\'s.
On the occasion of the Prime Minister\'s visit to his alma mater on 29th January, to mark the 125th anniversary of this school, a specially composed operetta, The Flood, will be performed which is on the theme of forgiveness and brotherhood, peace and re-construction. It is written and composed, produced and directed by Jane Pettigrew and Geoffrey Tyler.
As St. Patrick\'s School enters the second quarter of its second century, it continues to strive for excellence in education, and re-dedicates itself to the total development of its students, embracing not only the physical and intellectual, social and cultural, but above all the moral and spiritual dimensions, It continues to inculcate in them the highest ideals of service to God and man.
From a small parish school, St. Patrick\'s has grown in to a huge campus of 3200 boys, with a separate building for over 500 girls, yet it has maintained its high standards in both academic as well as in co-curricular fields and is an excellent example of how the private sector can supplement government efforts in developing the human resources of Pakistan.
Contributed by the Principal, St. Patrick\'s School, Karachi
To commemorate the 125 years of St. Patrick\'s School, Pakistan Post Office is issuing one postage stamp of Rs. 5/- value on January 29,1987.