The school is no stranger to impressive records – particularly those that proclaim strength in numbers. For long, St. Mary’s Higher Secondary School at Pattom here has claimed to be ‘one of the largest schools in Asia’ with the total number of students exceeding 12,000. Even the alphabet will not suffice in naming class divisions. When the overall figure is massive, other quirky statistics too should follow — for instance, the number of twins.
The school has a tradition of celebrating ‘Kerala Piravi’ day on November 1 through special themes. This year, Principal Fr. Varkey Attupurathu came up with the suggestion of getting together every twin studying in the institution.
Teachers spread the word that every pair of twins must assemble near the school library hall on Friday for the special programme. “We were not sure how many would be there,” said a teacher. There were in for a surprise. Seventy-three pairs of twins, identical and fraternal, turned up, each pair in identical outfits. There were two triplets too.
“While notifying the students on Thursday, I realised that we have triplets as well. They hesitantly came up to me and asked whether they too should attend the event since they were not twins but triplets,” said Fr. Attupurathu.
Among teachers tooMoreover, there were two pairs of twins among the teachers. One pair was identical high school English teachers, while the other younger duo was alumni of the school. Last year, the school conducted a ‘Chendamelam’ session when around 260 students got together for a performance.
Friday’s event was inaugurated by poet Madavoor Krishnankutty and attended by Principal Asha Anne George, PTA president B. Vijayan Nair, Mother PTA president Sree Kumari, and programme coordinator Fr. Nelson Valiyaveetil.
