Mumbai: Campion School to start accepting girl students from next year

The Campion School in Fort is set to break an eight-decade-long tradition by welcoming girl students on its campus for the first time next year. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

Come 2025, and the Campion school in SoBo will throw its doors open to welcome its first ever batch of female students. The iconic school located in Fort is finally ready to do away with its policy of eight decades, in a move that, according to its alumni, aligns with the principles of modern equity and gender equality but also propels the institution's ethos into the future.

Campion is renowned for its illustrious alumni from various fields, which includes prominent personalities such as Ratan Tata, Niranjan Hiranandani, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Shashi Tharoor, and the Kapoor brothers - Rishi Kapoor, Randhir Kapoor, and Rajiv Kapoor, among others.

The Old Campionites Association (OCA), the school's alumni network, has collaborated closely with the school management to carefully plan and implement changes. The process begins with a comprehensive phased renovation of the school premises, scheduled to commence in March. Dhiraj Mehra, President of OCA and a member of Campion's Class of 1990, tells mid-day, "The change is an advancement of the school's strong legacy, making education at Campion accessible to all. Many alumni, with daughters, were unable to send their children to Campion despite their strong desire. The decision was made, taking all stakeholders, including alumni and non-alumni parents, into confidence."

The transition entails more than just welcoming girls; it involves changes to existing infrastructure and the training of teaching and support staff. "It is a matter of execution now. Several tasks need completion before admitting girls, such as modifying the school's infrastructure and providing training to teachers and staff. We are initiating these preparations soon and are confident that we can begin admitting girls from the academic year 2025," adds Mehra.

According to sources within the school, there are plans to revamp many areas to make them more inclusive, including adding sufficient washrooms for female students. However, the school's fee structure will remain unaffected by the changes or the transition to co-education, as per the source.

The move has been in the pipeline for the last three years, but these are not the only changes on the cards. In addition to transitioning to a co-educational format, the primary school will shift to an international board by the academic year 2025-2026. Furthermore, the school also plans to introduce/expand to grades 11 and 12 with an international board from 2025-26.

"All three of these changes are incredibly complex, and implementing them concurrently would require a comprehensive reshaping of the school infrastructure as part of the renovation plan. In fact, this aligns with the National Education Plan, which mentions that schools will either be up to grades 12 or up to grade 8. Shifting to international board, takes time as we need permissions and all. We are striving to complete all this by 2025," says Mehra.

Mehra happily tells us that there was no resistance to the transition, either from the alumni or the parents. "We have taken all stakeholders into confidence before moving forward. Besides, the intake for girl students will start from the lower classes, hence there will be no changes to the existing higher classes. The transition will be gradual and start from the lower classes."