At a time when many government schools across Kerala are facing closure because of low enrolment, Government Moyan’s Model Girls’ Higher Secondary School at Tharekad here has retained its status as the school with the highest student strength in the State for the third consecutive year. School authorities say it is one of the largest schools in India.
In comparison with Government Girls’ Higher Secondary School at Cotton Hill, Thiruvananthapuram, which was the largest school in the State till three years ago, Moyan’s has 355 more students this academic year which began in June. While the total student strength of Moyan’s is 4,574, the upper primary section has 1,192 students. There are 2,542 students in the high school section and 840 students at the Plus Two level.
T. Beena, one of the two Principals of the school, said admission from Class 5 was still on. More than 1,000 students enrolled this year. As classrooms are limited, the school is functioning in two shifts. There are 19 divisions at classes 9 and 10 of the school. “The large enrolment has not affected our academic standards. We achieved 98.4% success in the Class 10 examination last year. At Plus Two level, the result was 99%,” said Rama C. Menon, the other Principal. Now, steps are on to make Moyan’s the first digital school in the State at an estimated expenditure of ₹8 crore.
Its history
The school was conceptualised by the then British Malabar authorities using the funds made available by Thalassery-born landlord Moyan Kunhiraman. He had deposited a major part of his savings with the then Madras presidency to start a school for girls. Though Kunhiraman wanted to set up the school in his home town, it was shifted to Palakkad because there was not much demand for a girls’ school in Thalassery. Started as a primary school at Vadakkumthara, it was shifted later to Tharekad as a secondary school. It became fully functional in 1918 when C. Chinnamma Mannadiyar assumed charge as Principal.