St. Conrad's Inter College, Agra

St. Conrad's Inter College is a private, Christian minority boarding school. It is located near Transport Nagar, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. Established in 1977, the institution is one of the leading day-boarding schools in Agra. It has international accreditation through the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination. It is the home of the Franciscan Capuchin priests whose duty it is to manage and administer the school. It holds the ICSE exams for Class X and the ISC exams for Class XII. ISC Certificate examination is on par with overseas schools which means students passing out of this institution will no longer be required to obtain 'A' level qualification or complete bridging courses while seeking admission in the universities of UK, Australia and other countries. It is managed by a religious body called Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, through a registered body Capuchin Friars Minor Education Society, Uttar Pradesh.
The motto of the institution is "Truth, Love, Service".[1]

History

Fr. Aloysius Fernandes Capuchin bought a five-acre plot of land from Mr. Ninuaram and Mr. Kishanlal; another stretch of land from a Muslim, Mr. Hasamuddin and Navabuddin, in 1968. The original plan in purchasing this land was to house the retired and ailing Franciscan Capuchins working in the Archdiocese of Agra. In 1969 Fr.Hugh, Capuchin, began constructing a boundary wall on all four sides and barbed wire above. It was supervised by Bro.Ruben Furtado. Soon Fr. Hugh constructed a room for the watchman and in case a member wanted to stay there. In the same year Bro.Ruben had a tube well bored in the existing open well. From 1971 to 1973 he cultivated the fields, daily coming to the plot from St. Mary's Church, Ajmer Road, Agra.

In 1973 Fr. Vincent Lobo succeeded Fr.Hugh. During this time there was a great possibility of not being able to realize the said purpose since the Nagar Mahapalika of Agra had served notice for acquisition of the land to execute their master plan. In view of this Fr. Vincent thought it best to build a prayer hall (church) for which permission had been granted to Fr. Hugh earlier. Fr. Vincent brought Br. Osmund Dias to this place to supervise the construction work. The foundation for the ashram and prayer hall was laid by the Most. Rev. Dr. Dominic Athaide, Capuchin, the late Archbishop of Agra, on September 8, 1973. The construction took more than a year to complete.

When Fr. John Joseph, was chosen to be in charge of Agra-Lucknow Mission, he began to stay in the residence here instead of St. Fidelis Ashram, Lucknow, which had been the headquarters of the mission. He came to stay here on December 26, 1974. Then onwards fathers and brothers began to come to Ashram at regular intervals.

In 1975 it got an exemption from the Development Authority, Lucknow, on the condition that we open a school in the premises for the people of the locality. In 1975 we decided to open an English-Medium School. The foundation stone was blessed by the late Archbishop, Dr. Dominic Athaide, Capuchin, and laid by Mr.A.N.Sehgal, Administrator of Nagar Mahapalika, Agra, on April 13, 1978. St. Conrad's School was established on July 1, 1978, in the green and pollution-free environment to cater to the needs of the local population. The school went in for co-education. To begin with, there were only 9 students on the roll. In the beginning, there was only one teacher, Mrs. A. Sebastian. It was not in the present building then but in the present chapel which is in the residential block now.

1978 marked the beginning of the construction of the ground floor; the first floor was completed in 1984. All this was possible because of the great master builder, Bro. Julian Crasto and Bro. Oliver, the executor. Fr. John Lewis took over in 1981 and Fr. Richard Mathias was the vice-principal. The school looked with hope and confidence to the future. The school got its affiliation to the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, New Delhi, on May 29, 1983. The very first batch of students who appeared for the ICSE examinations in March 1985, secured a cent per cent result.

St.Conrad's Inter College is a private, recognized and non-aided Christian minority institution founded in the year 1978. It is affiliated to the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, New Delhi and will prepare the students for the ICSE Certificate Examination (Class X) and the ISC Certificate Examination (Class XII).

St.Conrad's Inter College has the international accreditation through ISC Board. ISC Certificate examination (XII level of ICSE Board, New Delhi) is on par with overseas school leaving certificate which means students passing out of this institution will no longer be required to obtain 'A' level qualification or complete bridging courses while seeking admission in the universities of UK, Scotland, Australia and other commonwealth countries.

Patron Saint
Main article: Conrad of Parzham

St. Conrad, whose original name was John, was born in 1818 A.D. at Parzham in Bavaria, Germany. From an early age, he showed a love of a solitary life, and was a devoted Christian.

At the age of 31, John joined the Franciscan Capuchins where he was given the name Conrad. He became the porter at the Capuchin Monastery at Altötting, a post he kept for the rest of his life. He died in April 1894.

After Conrad's death, several miracles were ascribed to him, and in 1934 he was declared a saint by the Catholic Church.

Principals
  • Rev. Fr. John Joseph (1977–1980)
  • Rev. Fr. Francis Lobo (1980–1982)
  • Rev. Fr. John Lewis (1982–1987)
  • Rev. Fr. Lawrence Saldanha (1987–1994)
  • Rev. Fr. Thomas Quadros (1994–2002)
  • Rev. Fr. Richard Pinto (2002–2011)
  • Rev. Fr. Oswald Madtha (2011–2014)
  • Rev. Fr. Kalyan Paul Lakra (2014–present)

Houses

The four houses that compete against each other are:

Academics

St. Conrad's has a staff of over 100 highly qualified teachers. It has fully equipped laboratories for Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Biotechnology. It has a large computerized library.

Activities

The institution promotes almost every game that is played in the city of Taj. Basketball has always been the favourite sport of St. Conrad's with teams achieving much success in this sport. Students also participate in Cricket, Football, Handball, Badminton, Chess and Table Tennis.

Other activities include drama and dance. The institution is quite often a venue for different Inter-school competitions and conventions. St. Conrad's Inter College is an active member of ASISC (Association of Schools of ISC) and one of the founding members of APSA (Association of Progressive Schools of Agra).

References
  1. http://conrads.in/genesis.asp

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