Campion School Bhopal - History

History

In July 1965, at the invitation of His Grace, Rev. Dr. Eugene D'Souza, the then Archbishop of Bhopal, Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Ferdinand More, S.J., a Spanish Jesuit belonging to the Jesuit Province of Mumbai established a school, which he named Campion School after St. Edmund Campion, a sixteenth century English Jesuit who was also the Patron of the School.

The School moved from place to place to find a suitable location, which could provide the necessary School climate. The School was held first at Seva Sadan, which had no room for expansion for the increasing number of students. Therefore Fr. More, who was the first principal of the School, negotiated with the Government for leasing a larger piece of land and was allotted about a 10-acre (40,000 m2) patch near No.10 bus stop. He built the School in a ‘barracks’ fashion and extended the classes from Std IV to Std XI. The school was occupied on 17 July 1967. This school, today known as ‘Old Campion’, was handed back to the Government in 1974.

On February 21, 1969, Fr. More acquired 48.54 acres (196,400 m2) of land in Shahapura, the present site of Campion School, in the name of Bombay Xaverian Corporation. ‘The Campion School Society’ was registered on 1 April 1972. In 1971-72, the formalities for the present site were completed and the construction of the building started in late 1972.

Campion School was moved into an incomplete building of the present site on 1 July 1974. In the same year classes from KGI to Std. III were added. St. Mary's School, run by the sisters of PSOL (Poor Sisters of Our Lady), Mumbai, merged with Campion and its students both boys and girls were inducted into this school. Sr. Eleanor, PSOL, was the Headmistress of the Primary section. The girls studied at Campion for a year or two before they were admitted into St. Joseph’s, Idgah Hills or Carmel, BHEL.

In 1979, the Bombay Jesuit Province handed over the administration of Campion School Society to the Ranchi Province. When Madhya Pradesh became an independent Province, Ranchi handed over Campion to the Madhya Pradesh Jesuits. When the Poor Sisters of Our Lady (PSOL), who had been co-workers with the Jesuits from the year 1974, decided to have their own independent School, St Mary’s' School, at Seva Sadan, the M.P. Jesuits invited the Sisters of the Mercy of the Holy Cross to work with them in the Primary School which they have done since 1982. In 1994, the School changed from the M.P. Board of Secondary Education to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).

Fr. Alphonse Tirkey, S.J., the former Principal, started a Hindi Medium section of the School in July 1993, for those who find instructions through English medium difficult.