St. Joseph Higher Secondary School (Dhaka)

Infobox_University
name = Saint Joseph Higher Secondary School"'
image_size = 220px
motto = Advancing in wisdom and virtue
established = 1954
type = Private higher secondary school
city = Dhaka
country = Bangladesh
campus = 97 Asad Avenue, Mohammadpur
former_names = Saint Joseph High School
sports = Cricket, Basketball, Football, Table tennis, Athletics
affiliations = Congregration of Holy Cross, Catholic Archdiosese of Dhaka |

Saint Joseph High School is a Catholic secondary school located at 97, Asad Avenue, Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Established in 1954 as the "St. Joseph English Medium School" in 16 Monir Hossain Lane, Narinda in the current old part of Dhaka by the Congregation of Holy Cross missionaries, the institution had a General Certificate of Education(GCE) based education structure. The school moved to its current location in 1965. After the liberation war of Bangladesh, the medium of instruction in Saint Joseph High School changed to Bengali. In 1973 the last of the Cambridge groups took their examinations, as the school integrated itself into the government regulated secondary education system in Bangladesh, although it is still recognized for its particular emphasis in teaching English. However, the institution currently has both English and Bengali medium based education for secondary level. Higher Secondary Education had also been introduced in Saint Joseph, changing the name of the institution to "Saint Joseph Higher Secondary School". The school is recognized by the Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, Dhaka, Bangladesh. The average graduating class from Saint Joseph each year used to have 130 to 140 students. It is a Boys' School and the students are known as "the Josephites".

Saint Joseph is indisputably one of the topmost secondary schools in the country, in terms of the quality of education and success records in public examinations, discipline, practice of leadership, sports and co-curricular activities. Many of the graduates from the school are established leaders and notable personnels of the country in various fields. The school has a beautiful campus with varieties of trees and plants, and a big play-ground for soccer, cricket, volley-ball, badminton and so on. It also has table-tennis facilities and a basket-ball court which is usable as an auditorium. The alumni of the school had formed the Saint Joseph Old Boys Association (SJOBA), which continues to organize regular events and programs in and outside the school boundaries. Saint Joseph is run under the supervision of the Catholic Archdiocese of Dhaka.

Notable academic results

*During the ten years of Cambridge, 233 boys took the overseas examination and 98% passed with over 60% in the first division.
*Eight positions (including the first position) in the merit list among approximately 100 graduating students in 1980.
*Eight positions (including the first position) in the merit list among approximately 100 graduating students in 1992.
*Five positions (including the third position) in the merit list among approximately 80 graduating students in 1995.

Notable achievements and contributions

*Introduction of Basketball in Bangladesh
*Introduction of Parliamentary Format Debate in Bangladesh
*Established the first High School Level Science Club of Bangladesh in 1957
*Formed the first High School Level Debating Club in Bangladesh in 1950

Notable alumni

Medical:
*Dr. Rashid Uddin (Neurologist)

Sports:
*Niaz Morshed (Grand Master of Chess), Batch 1983
*Reefat Bin Sattar (Grand Master of Chess)
*Shahriar Nafees (Cricketer, Bangladesh National Team (Resigned), ICL Dhaka Warriors), Batch 2001

Band Music:
*Naqib Khan (Member of Renaissance)
*Shafin Ahmed (Member of Miles)
*Manam Ahmed (Member of Miles)
*Babna (Ex-Member of Warfaze)
*Kamal (Member of Warfaze)
*Russel (Ex-Member of Warfaze)
*Tahsan (Ex-Member of Black, Present-Solo artist)
*Meraj (Ex-Member of Black), Batch 1999
*Nahian (Member of Powersurge and Severe Dementia), Batch 2001

Head masters and/or Principals

*Brother Jude Costello, C.S.C. (1954 - 1962)
*Brother Gerald Kraeger, C.S.C. (1963 - 1967)
*Brother Thomas O'Linn C.S.C. (1967 - 1969)
*Brother Ralph Baird, C.S.C (1969 - 1972 & 1979 - 1985)
*Brother John Stephen, C.S.C. (1985-1987)
*Brother Thomas Moore, C.S.C. (1973 - 1978 & 1987 - 1988)
*Brother Nicholas Thielman, C.S.C.(1987 - 1989)
*Brother John Rozario, C.S.C. (1990 - 2007)
*Brother Leo James Pereira, C.S.C. (2007-Present)

Faculty

*Late Mr. Sarkar
*Late Mr. A. Sattar
*Late Mr. Mahtab Hossain
*Mr. Benjamin Rozario (retired)
*Br. Dominic Mree (retired)
*Mr. Moinuddin Ahmed (retired in 2001)
*Mrs. Lucille Sadekin (retired in 2005)
*Mr. Bidhubhushan Paul (retired)
*Mr. Joseph Modhu (retired)
*Mrs. Hosne Ara Biswas (retired in 2006)
*Mrs. Suraiya Akhtar (retired in 2006)
*Mrs. Afifa M. M. Ahmed (retired)
*Mr. Abdul Bari Mridha (retired)
*Mr. George Gomes (retired in 2007)
*Mr. Milton Das (left)
*Mr. Zulfikar Ali Zabur(left)
*Mr. Mathews Mandez
*Mr. Albert A. Golder (retired in 2006)
*Mrs. Nishat Jahan
*Mr. Raihan Uddin Ahmed (retired in 2007)
*Mrs. Rehana Begum
*Mr. Keshob Chandra Chakrabarty
*Mr. Suvankar Dutta
*Mr. Phanindra Chandra Banik
*Mrs. Nargis Labib
*Mrs. Sabera Khanam
*Mr. Harashit Biswas
*Mr. Francis P. Rozario
*Mrs. Charlotte Rozanov
*Mr. Krishno Pada Chakroborty
*Mr. Anil Kumer Mallick
*Mr. Mahmudar Rahman
*Mr. Md. Farid Uddin
*Mr. Amit Kumer Baroi
*Mr. Isodor Palma
*Mr. Leonard Vincent Gomes
*Mr. Uttom Halder
*Mr. Asifur Rahman
*Mr. Aminul Ahsan
*Mr. Ariful Kabir
*Mr. Amit Anjus
*Mrs. Shibani Halder
*Mrs. Rabeya Rahman Hena Buddhiman
*Mrs. Lauisa Sarder
*Mr. Md. Azizur Rahman
*Br. Nipu Hubert Rozario (Asst. Headmaster) (2007)
*Ms. Lipi Daisy Gregory (2005)
*Br. James Sarker (2005)
*Mr. Amit E. Anjus (2005)
*Mr. Prodip Kumer Samaddar (2007)
*Ms. Toma Samaddar (2006)
*Ms. Ahmed Zeenat Hossain (2006)
*Mr. Swapan Kumer Mistry (1999)
*Mr. Khairul Bashar
*Mr. Sudeb Chandra Paul (2000)
*Mr. Motasim Billah (Lipon) (2008)
*Mr. Debbrota Kumar Biswas
*Mr. Alok Kumar Das (2008)

Grades/Classes

Instead of Section 1, 2, 3 or A, B, C etc, St. Joseph traditionally uses names for its sections of different grades. There are three sections for grades 3 - 10, and there are six sections for grades 11 - 12. In the school section, each class contains 55 students. Below is a complete list:
*Grade 3: Eagles, Hawks, Falcons
*Grade 4: Lions, Tigers, Mountain Lions
*Grade 5: Hornets, Wasps, Drones
*Grade 6: Bears, Wildcats, Polar Bears
*Grade 7: Jaguars, Panthers, Leopards
*Grade 8: Comets, Meteors, Asteroids
*Grade 9: Jets, Rockets, Concords
*Grade 10: Giants, Stars, Titans
*Grade 11: Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, Vulcan
*Grade 12: Pluto, Phobos, Uranus, Earth, Neptune, Diebos

Lab facilities

St. Joseph has some of the best high school lab facilities in the country. The Biology lab and the chemistry lab is well-equipped and large in size. Some external schools and educational institutions as the Edexcel use these facilities for their students. St. Joseph Higher Secondary School has two computer labs with multimedia projector, scanner and printers, and one internet lab where both students and teachers can explore the net. The labs are ran by Shuvankar Datta

Extra-curricular organizations

*Scintilla Science Club, established 1957
*Josephite Debating Club (JDC), established 1950
*Josephite Chess Club (JCC)
*Rotary Interact Club of Saint Joseph
*Josephite Cultural Forum (JCF), established 1993
*St. Joseph Boy Scouts
*Josephite Language & Reading Club (JLRC)
*Josephite Natya Dal
*Josephite Business Club (JBC)

Year Book

*The Josephites

References

*History of "The Josephite" ; Golden Jubilee Souvenir 2004
*Hussain, Mukbil. [http://banglapedia.org/HT/S_0536.htm "St Joseph High School and College"] "Banglapedia"
*Abid, Shah. (Golden Jubilee Batch 2004)

External links

* [http://www.holycrosscongregation.org/english/direct.htm Directory of Holycross Congregration-run institutions]
* [http://www.josephites.info/ SJOBA (St. Joseph Old Boys' Association)]
* [http://www.josephite89.org/ Josephite Batch 89 Alumni Portal]
* [http://www.josephite.net/ Alumni forum]