Schooled in history

Established way back in the 19th Century,the Anglo Sanskrit Victoria Jubilee Senior Secondary School is an integral part of Indian history.

What do A K Walia,Harsh Vardhan and J P Aggarwal have in common apart from being prominent politicians of Delhi? They were all students of one of the oldest schools of North India,the Anglo Sanskrit Victoria Jubilee Senior Secondary School in Daryaganj. As the present Principal of the school Dr P K Singhal jokes,Our alumni association cuts across parties; for us the Congress and the BJP are the same.

The schools association with politics is not recent. Established in 1869 in a haveli donated by Lala Chunamal near Katra Neel in Chandni Chowk,the school was a witness to history being created. There was a time when wearing a Gandhi topi was compulsory for students. On May 8,1915,the headmaster of the school,Master Amir Chand,and Mathematics teacher Avadh Bihari were hanged for a bomb attack on Viceroy Hardinge. The attack had taken place in Chandni Chowk on December 23,1912,almost a year after the capital was shifted to Delhi from Calcutta. The revolutionary-teachers were hanged at the Old Jail that once stood opposite Ferozshah Kotla and was demolished to build the Maulana Azad Medical College.

History apart,the schools building itself is a heritage structure and has been awarded by the DDA for retaining its original architecture. The building,constructed in neo-classical style with semi-circular arches and Doric Order columns–typically Victorian–is in keeping with the name of the school.

Singhal explains that the 1912 bomb attack infuriated the British government that refused grants to the institution. In those years of financial distress,Lala Amba Prasad,who owned Old Delhis Amba Cinema,came to the rescue and donated his farmhouse in Daryaganj for the school building. Can you believe that Daryaganj was once green and peaceful? This building came up in 1919,the year Parliament House was constructed. The junior branch started functioning out of a building at Ballimaran. A hostel for Sanskrit pathshala was started by the school behind the Daryaganj police station, says Singhal,adding that the school has produced poets such as Afzal Peshawari,Dr K K Aggarwal of Heart Care Foundation,four cricket umpires,Dr Mahesh Sharma of Kailash Hospitals and former Defence Secretary K B Lal among others. Among the first batch of students who appeared in Middle School exam way back in 1877 was Suraj Narain who stood first in English language in the entire province. He later became a well-known Urdu poet,writing under the pen name of Mehr, says Singhal.

Singhal says in 1940 when the school again went through a monetary crisis,one of the old students,Sir Shri Ram,took over and the institution came under Shri Ram Education Foundation. The hostel for Sanskrit pathshala was turned into Commercial High School and later the building also housed Lady Shri Ram College and Shri Ram College of Commerce. In the late 90s as the Shri Ram Education Foundation withdrew its support,the school found new patrons,with Dharampal Satyapal Charitable Trust taking over both the schools.

Being more than 140 years old,the school has seen a nation being born,and its students can be found in every corner of the world, says Singhal,who himself studied in the institution. My father was also one of the principals of the school, he says,showing us the institutions archives,which,besides records also has a collection of black and white photographs some of them a century-old.

As one prepares to leave,one notices students flipping through books by S Chand & Co–a well-known publishing house owned by the family of the school’s former headmaster,Master Amir Chand.

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram