| Railway Mixed Higher Secondary School | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
 | |
Railway Colony, Ponmalai , | |
| Coordinates | 10°47′06″N78°43′05″E / 10.78500°N 78.71806°E /10.78500; 78.71806 |
| Information | |
| Type | Government school |
| Motto | Study Serve Shine |
| Established | 1923; 102 years ago (1923) |
| Status | Open |
| School district | Tiruchirappalli |
| Oversight | Railway Board |
| President | Divisional Railway Manager/ Chief Personnel Officer |
| Correspondent | Workshop Personnel Officer |
| Administrator | M. Ramakrishnan[1] (Chief Educational Officer) |
| Principal | P. M. Amaranathan |
| Teaching staff | 29 |
| Grades | 1 -12 |
| Enrollment | 793 |
| Houses | 4 Houses |
| Colours | Navy Blue and White |
| Athletics | Yes |
| Accreditation | Anglo Indian School Leaving Certificate (Anglo-Indian Board) andHSC |
| Schedule | Monday-Friday, except state and district holidays |
| Information | Official Contact |
Railway Mixed Higher Secondary School, commonlyRailway School orRMHSS orRMHS/EM/GOC is aGovernmentcoedday school located atGolden Rock, Tiruchirappalli,Tamil Nadu. It is one among 42 schools in the state[2] and among 4 schools in theTiruchirapalli Revenue district that follows both Anglo-Indian Board of Education[3] and Higher Secondary Board, catering to pupils fromClass I toClass XII inbilingual pattern, viz.,English andTamil, which are themedium of instruction.
Prior to the 18th century, Golden Rock, was earlier referred byRobert Orme to the British as Sugar-Loaf Rock,[4] where after theBattle of Golden Rock, the erstwhileTrichinopoly was divided into two parts, one called theCantonment, which contains the residences of European &Anglo-Indian community and the garrison-barracks for stationing theEuropean andIndian Regiments.[5][6][7] The cantonment[8] then comprised the present day areas ofCantonment,Tiruchirappalli Junction,Senthaneerpuram,Varahaneri,Golden Rock,Tiruchirapalli Central Prison and other major parts of southern and eastern trichy.[9] During 1878, when theAfghan War broke, the whole of the European troops were withdrawn.[10] According toOral lore, some parts of the barracks were converted todispensary andclinic. Later, the buildings were transformed forCholera/T.B. Hospital and again as barracks and again to hospital, which was mostly devoted and preferred for the Europeans and Anglo-Indians. Around the 1920s, provision was contemplated for a Railway School since there were considerations to move the railway workshop fromNegapatnam to Trichinopoly, for strategic purposes, for which foundations were laid in 1926 and permanently moved in 1928.[11] Around the same time, two Railway schools at primary level inEnglish Medium and Tamil Medium were established during 1923[12][13] and 1925[14][15] respectively along with an exclusiveDivisional Railway Hospital was also set up and started to function here since 1927.[16][17] Post-independence the administration was transferred toIndian Railways, which opened many more such schools,[18] where quality education is provided at subsidized cost to about one lakh children of railway employees and about 30,000 non-railway wards. There are about 5,500 teachers and about 1,100 non-teaching staff employed in these railway schools.Indian Railways also supports manyKendriya Vidyalayas for the benefit of wards of railway employees.[19][20]UnderBritish rule, initially the school served the purpose only for Europeans and British children, then extended to Anglo-Indians and finally exclusive to the wards of Railway employees who serve anywhere in India. In the early 1990s, admission was open to all, with substantially a little higher fee for wards of Non-Railway employees than that of Railway employee. Preference of admission is given only for wards of Railway employee. Now, this school has been elevated to Higher Secondary School.
The school is spread over a sprawling 20 acres (8.1 ha) site, which has sufficient spacious classrooms to accommodate enough pupils. Initially, the students were taught at the building of now-defunct Railway Mixed Higher Secondary School/Tamil Medium,[21] which was thenHigh School (Class I -Class X) for both Tamil/English Medium since aPrimary School (Class I -Class V) for Tamil Medium was established amidst“C” Type Quarters in 1925 andMiddle School (Class I -Class VIII) was functioning withinNorth “D” Quarters, which also housed aCSI Church. Around the 1980s, the present premises of the school was utilised only for the High School as the sections of Primary Classes were functioning at the premises of Office ofChief Mechanical Engineer,Central Workshops, Golden Rock, where the pupils here would assemble at the main campus which was about 400m away, for the purpose of daily morning prayers and important events.
The school has a large central hexagonal hall with classrooms along with labs at every 90 degree (like a compass view). Later on when the large and additional building (with ground and first floor) was completed along with improvement in other basicamenities like additional privy, bicycle parking stand, drinking water, entire pupils of the school were moved under one premises. Recently, this school was elevated to Higher Secondary School accepting students for both English and Tamil Mediums.
Apart from the facilities inside the main campus, the school is also allowed to use the nearby Railway Community hall, Dr.B.R.Ambedkar Common Wedding hall, Railway Sports playground, Railway Gym Club, Railway Cinema hall and other Railway buildings for bona fide educational and recreational purposes either at very nominal cost or at free of cost.
The Annual School day is organized during second fortnight of January month or first fortnight of February month. During which events like, drama, mime, elocution, quiz, debate, essay writing, Craftwork, Choir, drawing and other activities are conducted and top three performers are awarded with certificate. Also top three rank holders every class of previous academic year are honoured with certificate. The students are also allowed to participate in inter-railway and inter-zonal competitions. Apart from these students are also involved in Green Club,National Service Scheme, Literary Club, Social awareness rallies, etc.,
Students from all classes were encouraged to participate in various sports events. Students right from Class VI till Class XII were alphabetically partitioned and accommodated to the four houses almost within one month from the start of the academic year. During Independence Day, Annual Sports day and Republic day, the students are trained and assembled to perform a mass physical exercise drill to the musical tune of big drum. Apart from these, hand-picked students for parade and sports events were allowed to participate forIndependence day andRepublic day celebrations atCentral Workshop, Golden Rock and also to Inter-School, Inter-Railway, Zonal, District and State-level competitions.
Following are the houses where, inter house competitions are held every year. Each house gets points based on their performance. The house which gets most points at the end of the year will be winner of the year.
| Colour | Name of House |
|---|---|
| Blue House | |
| Green House | |
| Red House | |
| Yellow House |
In 2018, Indian Railways announced its intent to withdraw support for its Railway Schools after 2018-19. Later, it revised its position, announcing support for schools with fifteen to twenty wards of railway employees.[22]
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