St. Gregory's High School & College, Bangladesh, is a Catholic High School founded in Dhaka, British India, in 1882 by Gregory De Groote, a BelgianBenedictinepriest. The school, located on Subhas Bose Avenue of Luxmibazar neighborhood of old Dhaka, was named after Pope Gregory I. Prodip Placid Gomes C.S.C is the current principal of the institution.
History
In 1882, the American priests of the Congregation of Holy Cross took over the Vicariate of East Bengal from the Benedictine Fathers. At the time, Mr. and Mrs. Wise — who were Protestants — ran a school at present Wiseghat area near the River Buriganga. In this school, most of the students were of European and Anglo-Indian Catholic communities. Anglican and Baptist pastors were allowed to teach religion at this school. Father Francis Boers,C.S.C. tried many times to be a teacher of Catholic religion to the Catholic students at the school, but was not allowed. Out of frustration, he started an English-medium school on the grounds of the present adjoining St. Francis Xavier's Convent and girls' high school, that came into being later. The renamed St. Gregory's School shifted to the present site in 1896. Until 1912, both boys and girls were students of St. Gregory's High School. When St. Francis Xavier Girls' School came into being in 1912, it became a boys' school. After creation of Pakistan in 1947, the school started the Bengali medium section. After the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, the school has only a Bengali medium section. Early in 1914, a one-story building was torn down to make room for the present "Darjeeling" building and the latrines. Also the scout troop, the first in Dhaka, was started and had 40 scouts. Bengali replaced Latin as a second language in 1915. Later that year Father Crowley resigned as headmaster. Basketball was introduced into the school in 1923, which is believed to be the first time basketball was played in the country. In July 1923, Father Hennessy gained permission to change the European style school to the Education Board examination. On June 2, 1924, permanent recognition was granted to St. Gregory's. Professor Amartya Sen who won a Nobel Prize for Economics in 1998 had been a student of St. Gregory's. During a visit to Dhaka on December 19, 1998, he visited the school of his childhood and was present at a groundbreaking ceremony for the new school building. In the year of 2016, the school was upgraded to Higher Secondary level by Ministry of Education of Government of People's Republic of Bangladesh. Since then, the institute has been registered as St. Gregory's High School & College. Students of the school are known as "The Gregorians". The "Gregorian Association" is the official alumni association of this school founded in 1985.
Shaheed teachers and the massacre in 1971
Mr. N.C. Sutradhar and Mr. D. N. Pal Choudhury, two of the three teachers of St. Gregory's High School who were murdered by army in 1971 were kidnapped from the school premises on 31 March 1971. The teachers were taken to a nearby army camp in Jagannath College. On that day, two of Mr. D.N. Pal's teenage sons, who were students of St. Gregory's at the time, were also taken and were murdered Mr. Monoranjan Poddar, a student of Jagannath College and Mr. Sutradhar's brother-in-law was also kidnapped by the army from the school and was murdered on 31 March 1971. At least 30 other people were taken from St. Gregory's High School that day who were also murdered by the army. Brother Robert Hughes, C.S.C., the headmaster of the school, tried to secure the two teachers’ release but failed. The army killed the retired teacher, Mr. Peter D'Costa, with 13 other villagers at Rangamatia Village of the then Dhaka District on November 26, 1971.
