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 of Agra. It has international accreditation through the Council for The INDIAN School Certificate Examination. It holds the ICSE exams for Class X and the ISC exams for Class XII. It is the home of the Franciscan Capuchin priests whose duty it is to manage and administer the school. 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 United Kingdom, Australia and other Commonwealth 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".

History

In 1968, a plot of land measuring AbOUT five acres was bought by Father Aloysius Fernandes. The original idea behind purchasing the land was to house the retired, ailing Franciscan Capuchins working in the Archdiocese of Agra. From 1971 to 1973 the fields were used as cultivated land.

In 1973 Father Vincent Lobo succeeded Father Hugh. At this time, the Nagar Mahapalika of Agra had served notice for acquisition of the land. In view of this Father Vincent thought it was best to build a prayer hall (church), for which permission had been granted to Father Hugh earlier. Father Vincent brought Brother Osmund Dias to this place to supervise the construction work. The foundation for the ashram and prayer hall was laid by Dr. Dominic Athaide, the Archbishop of Agra, on 8 September 1973. The construction took more than a year to complete.

When Father John Joseph was chosen to be in charge of Agra-Lucknow Mission, he began to stay in the residence in Agra, from the end of 1974, instead of at St. Fidelis Ashram, Lucknow, which had been the headquarters of the mission. After this, fathers and brothers began to come to Ashram at regular intervals.

In 1975 an exemption was gained from the Development Authority, Lucknow, on the condition that a school should be opened on the premises. The foundation stone of an English-Medium School was blessed by the Archbishop, Dr. Dominic Athaide, and laid by on 13 April 1977. St. Conrad's School was established on 1 July 1977. 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. Father John Lewis took over in 1981 and Father Richard Mathias was the vice-principal. The school got its affiliation to the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, New Delhi, on 29 May 1983. The first batch of students who appeared for the ICSE examinations in March 1985, secured a one hundred percent result.

Patron Saint

St. Conrad, whose original name was John, was born in 1818 A.D. at Parzham in Bavaria, in 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 (2014–present)

Houses

The four houses that compete against each other are:

  • Shastri House (Green)- named after Lal Bahadur Shastri
  • Tagore House (Yellow)- named after Rabindranath Tagore
  • Nehru House (Red)- named after Jawaharlal Nehru
  • Gandhi House (Blue)- named after Mahatma Gandhi

Academics

St. Conrad's has a staff of over a hundred highly qualified teachers. It has fully equipped laboratories for Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Biotechnology. It has three fully equipped e-learning classrooms, where students are taught various subjects digitally, as well as a large computerized library.

Activities

The institution promotes almost every game that is played in the city of Taj. Basketball has always been the legendary game of St. Conrad's. Students have brought great laurels to this institution in this game. Apart from that, Cricket, Hockey, Football, Handball, Skating, Badminton, Chess and Table Tennis are also being taught here.

The drama and dance groups are also encouraged. 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).