28th July 2009

Bishop Cotton School Shimla India celebrates its 150th year today, having been founded this day in 1859.

THREE CHEERS!

 

Pratibha Chauhan
Tribune News Service 

Shimla, July 28
Celebrating its sesquicentennial jubilee, Asia’s oldest public school, Bishop Cotton, has earned yet another distinction as it became the first school to be associated by United Nations in its mission on “Seal the Deal” campaign for Copenhagen Climate Change conference.
The 150th celebrations of Bishop Cotton School (BCS) took off today with old students of the 1956 batch and later, joining the school fraternity to mark the milestone. “BCS is the only school in the world to have been associated by the UN in its mission on climate change to safeguard the planet for future generations by sealing a fair, balanced and effective climate agreement,” said Roy Christopher Robinson, Headmaster of the school. The message from Achim Steiner, UN Under Secretary General and Executive Director of the UN’s Environment Programme for use of the logo “Seal the Deal” and making it part of everyday communication was received only a few days back.
“I want to pass on the message to all the past and present students to put in their best to ensure a green world as environment protection needs to be taken up as a mission,” said G.P.S. Sahi, a former Chief Secretary of Punjab, who passed out from BCS in 1956. Capt Vivek Bhasin of the 1970 batch says the illustrious alumni of the school who have excelled in every field owe whatever they have achieved to BCS which gave them the confidence and strength to venture into the world to make a mark. “It would take two long days for me to travel to Shimla from Kolkata as a five-year-old but the school became like a family as everyone shared a close bond,” he says.
Then there are others like industrialist K.C. Anand of the 1956 batch who fondly remembers even the caning that the students received on erring. “The school taught us such discipline, courtesy and humility that even after receiving the punishment we had to express our gratitude with a ‘thank you’, ” he said in a lighter vein.
The bust of the founder of the school, Bishop George Edward Lynch Cotton who set up the school on July 28, 1859 was unveiled by P.K. Samantaroy, Bishop of Amritsar and Chairman of the Boatrd of Governors of BCS on the school campus.
[As seen in “The Thribune“]

• BCS as on Wikipedia
• Bishop George Edward Lynch Cotton