‘Stanes school should have global outlook’

Management urged to prepare a vision document that could hold relevance in the next 100 years

Principal and Dean of St. Stephen's College, Delhi, Valson Thampu (right) presents the trophy to Sanjana S.A. for outstanding performance in sports and winning the H.O. Fowler Memorial Award. Photo: K. Ananthan

Stanes Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School, the management of which is celebrating its sesquicentennial anniversary, should have a global outlook, said B.K. Krishnaraj Vanavarayar, an alumnus and Chairman, Coimbatore Kendra, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, in Coimbatore on Saturday.

“The school should have a global outlook, national vision and secular commitment, as it has been doing so for long,” he said and appealed to the management board to prepare a vision document that could hold relevance in the next 100 years. And in the preparing the document, the board would do well to involve the alumni, the school’s strength, who were across the globe.

Changed

Over the past 150 years, the world, India and the school had changed so much. But what had not changed was the relevance of the vision of the founder, Robert Stanes, who said aim for the highest and called for developing the spirit, mind and body.

In today’s world, where the thrust was more on career than life, the call for developing spirit, mind and body continued to hold relevance, Mr. Vanavarayar said and added, for, the three were the integral parts of holistic education.

He then told the management board that the new vision document should synthesise tradition and modernity and the members should know what to and what not to leave.

Emphasis

He told the students that the time since his student days had changed so much that today the emphasis was the ends and not means. During his student days, the means mattered as much as the ends.

Philip R.J. Fowler, Chairman and Trustee, presented mementos to Mr. Vanavarayar, P.R. Krishnakumar, Managing Director, Arya Vaidya Pharmacy, and a few others. He also read a letter sent by the alumni who was the first to have passed out of the school in the then Madras Presidency.

The students welcomed the alumni, students and teachers in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Bengali, English, French, Spanish and German.

As part of the sesquicentennial celebration, the organisers had conducted games between the alumni and students, a cross country race, titled ‘Wild Beast Chase’, blood donation camp and much more.