The blockish, ochre stone building looks out of place amongst towering apartment dwellings and high-rise hospitals, amidst snarling traffic and the angry rush hour jumble of downtown Saddar. From within echo the shouts of youngsters at play, the quiet drone of a ponderous class, the excited screams of a football game. Sounds mull about; there is a chattering, active buzz that murmurs throughout laboratories and classrooms, drifts through the library, whispers in corridors, floats out of aged windows, sweeps through the yards. The hum of a thousand minds, thoughts overlapping and swirling together like so many sea borne waves. This tide has existed in some form or the other for one and a half centuries now, swelling in success, receding in loss, staring into the ugly face of war, surviving the tremors of the nation, passing through countless harbors, witnessing the birth of new islands upon the stormy seas of growth. And now, perhaps more than ever, the Karachi Grammar School looks back on the ripples of it’s existence- and reflects.
The School celebrates its 150 year anniversary in 1997. The institution we now know as the Karachi Grammar School was begun in 1847 as a school for ‘Indian’ children (partition was a hundred years away!) as well as for the English young, who, we must remember, were running the subcontinent at the time. The British capital was in Bombay at the time, and Karachi was even then a huge, active commercial center. The Europeans began settling here, realizing the city’s potential for trade and important location for business. Soon Karachi was abundant with British residents. At the time there was only one school in all of Sindh, the C.M.S. High School, which was begun a year earlier. Thus, KGS was the second school to be founded in Sindh.
The School’s student population reached three hundred for the first time in 1940, and evidence of the School’s growing popularity and reputation for excellence is seen from the School’s roll in 1943, which listed over four hundred students... a 40% growth in just three years! This rather huge population included fifteen nationalities, including Indian, French, African, Chinese and, of course, English. By the end of 1953, there were over a thousand students on the rolls, showing astronomical expansion in the number of students admitted to Grammar. We presently have over two thousand students.
The School originally followed the Matriculation system, securing very high marks in all subjects. Results such as first in Sind, or first in the Presidency, were not uncommon at this time, and in 1893 the School was awarded all available Scholarships. We were still bagging trophies and prizes for academics back then, but it must be remembered that we were only contesting with the half-dozen English schools within 3500 miles. Nonetheless, we thrashed them constantly, bringing accolades in academics and athletics to the School's name.
Of course, the School eventually embraced the Cambridge system, which remains to this day. In fact, Grammar has the distinction of being the largest school in Pakistan under the Syndicate, and last year hosted all Advanced Level papers for Karachi schools, and most of the Ordinary Level papers as well. Grammar's long affiliation with GCE and GCSE has produced stunning results, and every year's O Level results get better and better, raising the standard for examination takers everywhere.
The early twentieth century saw the School break out of some recent economic crises and staff problems and begin forming a reputation for excellence. Among its outstanding achievements in the 1910's was an Inspection Report in 1914 which stated very emphatically that parents were getting far better value for their money in the Karachi Grammar School than in any Grammar School in England, where fees were two to three times higher. The construction of a college complex for Karachi Grammar School has been planned to presently cater for the O-Level and A-Level students.
The College has been designed with the most modern teaching concepts to cater to the needs of both the students as well as the faculty. Within the limited space available, the architects have attempted to provide maximum facilities such as: