Karachi Grammar School

Infobox School
name = Karachi Grammar School


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motto = Indocti Discant
Lucerna Meis Pedibus
established = 1847
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type = Private
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alumni = Grammarians
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location = Karachi, Sindh
country = Pakistan
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website = [http://www.kgs547.edu.pk/ Official website]

The Karachi Grammar School (KGS) is a highly selective, independent, co-educational, English Medium school in Karachi, Pakistan.

KGS was established in 1847 by the Reverend H. Brereton, the first Chaplain of Karachi as a school for "English and Anglo-Indian children"cite web|url=http://br-shopping.com/html/1997/1997_C016_text.htm|title=Pakistan Stamps] [http://www.angelfire.com/ks/classof99/hist.html] . The school remained small initially, with about 300 students in 1940. Over the past fifteen years however, the school has expanded rapidly and now occupies three campuses across Karachi with a total student population in the thousands. Karachi Grammar School is the oldest private school in Pakistan and the second oldest in the Indian sub-continent. [cite web|url=http://www.cie.org.uk/aboutcie/centres/fellowship|title=CIE Centres]

Curriculum

Like many private schools in Pakistan, KGS is geared, especially at the secondary level, towards preparing students for University of Cambridge International Examinations GCE Ordinary Level, Advanced Subsidiary Level, and Advanced Level examinations.cite web|url=http://www.angelfire.com/sc/KarachiGrammarSchool/subjects.html|title=Subjects taught at KGS]

Subjects taught at KGS include physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology, computer studies, computing, Pakistan Studies, Urdu, Islamic studies, English literature and language, economics, accounting, business management, environmental management, world history, studio art, Geography, French, psychology and sociology.Subject taught at KGS]

It is known to be the best school in Pakistan, with its brilliant academic performance and its notoriety for producing star-pupils.

Extracurricular activities

Karachi Grammar School excels in providing a wide variety of extracurricular activities for its pupilsPakistan Stamps] , including sports days and annual concerts.

Once a year the junior section hosts the junior school concert, which is a professionally directed musical including every child in the junior section. The middle section holds an annual bake-sale for which a single house is responsible. The middle section and the senior section each host plays and drama festivals every year. Fact|date=October 2008

The school also has a history of winning national debate competitions and several students have represented Pakistan in the Worlds School Debating Championships. Fact|date=October 2008

Apart from the many sports facilities offered, Karachi Grammar School has a wide variety of societies that the students can join in order to learn things out of their curriculum. These societies include; The Journalism Society, The Young Leaders Society, The Elocutus, The Economics Society, The Mathematics Society, The Drama Council, The Director's Cut, The Reader's Bar, etc. Fact|date=October 2008

One of the most well-known of their societies is the social-service society known as the 'Helpers Society' which holds fund-raisers such as concerts and bake-sales in order to raise money for charity, create awareness, but also let the students enjoy themselves while taking part in organising such events. Fact|date=October 2008

The House System

The four school houses are Frere (for Henry Bartle Frere), Napier (for Charles James Napier), Streeton (for Rev. Streeton) and Papworth (for a former principal, and a recent invention, causing house-loss from the other three houses as the traditional lineage-based system of housing selection is in decline, as pupils are now able to switch their houses). The house colours are red, blue, green, and cornflower blue, respectively.Children, their parents and their siblings are all put into the same house if they studied/study in Karachi Grammar School.

Campuses

The original campus, located at 94 Depot Lines in the Saddar area, now houses only classes seven to nine and is known as the Middle School. In 1991, the Kindergarten and Junior Section was opened on Khayaban-e-Saadi in the Boat Basin area of Clifton for nursery, kindergarten, and classes 1 to 6. The latest addition to the school, the College Section in 1999, is also located on Khayaban-e-Saadi a few hundred meters from the Kindergarten and Junior Section, and contains the 'O' and 'A' Level students.

Social role

Tution fees at KGS are moderate in consideration to other schools (of such a calibre) in the city, thus making this a feasible option for middle class and low income families. However, many middle class families are hesitant to send their children to the school as it schools children hailing from some of the wealthiest and most influential families in Pakistan. Attendance at the school has consequently acquired a meaning that stretches beyond a measure of one's intellect, and is in fact used as a measure of social status.Fact|date=September 2008

Notable Alumni

* Pervez Hoodbhoy
* Kamila Shamsie
* Kofi Annan
* Chaudhary Muhammad Ali
* Benazir Bhutto [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Obituary: Benazir Bhutto, 1953-2007 |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article3101102.ece?token=null&offset=12 |work= |publisher="The Times" |date=December 27, 2007 |accessdate=2008-01-20 ]
* Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi
* Atta ur Rahman
* Hameed Haroon
* Princess Sarvath
* Waheed Murad

ee also

References

External links

* [http://www.kgs547.edu.pk/ The Official Karachi Grammar School website]
* [http://www.kgs.edu.pk/ The Karachi Grammar School website]
* [http://www.ogs.com.pk/ The Old Grammarians' Society (the KGS alumni association)]
* [http://www.angelfire.com/hi/kgs/ A website by students of the class of 1997]
* [http://www.angelfire.com/sc/KarachiGrammarSchool/home.html A website by a student of the class of 1998]
* [http://www.angelfire.com/ks/classof99/ A website by students of the class of 1999]
* [http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/pakistan/karachi/kgrammarschool.html Photos of the original campus at Mary Ann Sullivan's Digital Imaging Project]