CMS College Higher Secondary School, Kottayam

The history of the C. M. S. College Higher Secondary School begins from 1817. The School, which started functioning as a Grammar School in 1817, grew into a full fledged High School and has now graduated into a Higher Secondary School and has thrown its portals open to students hailing from every walk of life, irrespective of caste, creed or religion. It has now 1200 students on its rolls and 62 qualified and competent teachers as Staff members. Located at Chungam on a hill in sylvan surroundings beside Meenachil river, the School is functioning far from the din and bustle of the busy town, but easy of access, providing an air of eminence and elegance to the passers-by.

To tell the story of the beginning of English education nearly two centuries ago is to recapitulate the endeavours of Colonel John Munro a man of astounding energy and abounding ingenuity. There was no well-organized system in even elementary education in this part of the country. Colonel Munro requested the Church Missionary Society to send a few English missionaries to Travancore for educational work. Rev. Thomas Norton came in 1816 and stationed at Alappuzha (Alleppey). He was followed by the great visionary Rev. Benjamin Bailey.

Rev. Bailey stayed at Alappuzha with the Nortons and gained elementary knowledge in Malayalam language for interacting with the Community. He moved to Kottayam in 1817 and settled down on a hill later known as Bailey Hill. It was he who set up the first printing press (C. M. S. Press, Kottayam) and translated English Bible into Malayalam. He and Mrs. Bailey held regular classes in English at their bungalow. This school started in 1817 in Bailey's bungalow was the ancestor of the C. M. S. College Higher Secondary School of today. The classes soon grew into an English School by 1819 and was named as the Grammar School. The C. M. S. attached greatest importance to their Grammar School and gave Rs. 400 for erecting a building for the School and sanctioned a quarterly grant of Rs. 250/-. The Grammar School was maintained at much expense to teach English and Sanskrit besides Malayalam, Arithmetic and some General Science. The pupils had to be fed and clothed free and sometimes monetary inducements had to be given to parents to send their children to School.

Rev. Joseph Fenn was the first Headmaster who was followed by Henry Baker. During Baker's term of office there was an epidemic of Cholera in 1832 and the school had to be closed for a few months. In 1838 the Grammar School was upgraded into a public school called the C. M. S. College and was transferred to Fenn's Hill (now called the C. M. S. College hill). Fee was collected in the College for the first time in 1855. Every student had to pay a quarter of a rupee to be devoted to scholarships.

In 1857 the C. M. S. College was affiliated to the Madras University for Matriculation. The first student sent up by the College for Matriculation Examination was the late Archdeacon Chandy. In his memory "The Venerable Archdeacon Chandy Prize" is awarded in the School. The Maharaja of Travancore visited the College in 1880 and remarked in his address "Long before the state itself undertook the humanising task of Education, the Christian missionaries had raised the beacon of knowledge in the land".

In 1892 the C. M. S. College was raised from the standard of a High School to that of the Second Grade College (in the sense in which the term 'College' is used now). In 1907 the University Commission visited the College and recommended the separation of the School and the College departments for the further expansion of the College. Since then the School came to be known as The C. M. S. College High School. On 15th April 1950, the 133 year old C. M. S. High School bade farewell to its home on Fenn's hill and returned to the home of its childhood on Bailey's Hill.

The year 1967 was another important milestone on the onward march of the historic institution when the School celebrated the Tripple Jubilee (150th anniversary). One of the main projects to be taken up during the Jubilee year was the construction of a new Hostel building at the northern extremity of the school campus.

The year 1992 was celebrated as a jubilee to commemorate the 175th anniversary of the School. The development project in connection with the jubilee celebrations yielded good results in the form of a new Headmaster's room, School office, Computer lab, Library, Laboratory, a spacious Staff-room and 8 class rooms.

It has to be specially mentioned that all the teachers of the school voluntarily contributed their two month’s salary for the completion of the project. The project was completed with the strong support of students, teachers, former students, well-wishers and management. The school was upgraded as a Higher Secondary School during the year 2000. It was purely a boy's school till 2000. Since then, girls were also admitted. For the first time, lady teachers were appointed as staff in the year 1983.

Designation : Principal

Website : http://www.cmscollegehighersec.com/