Founded by French nuns in 1852, Visakhapatnam’s Fort Catholic Girls’ School turns 175

The city around it has changed dramatically, but the story of Fort Catholic Girls’ School in Visakhapatnam has unfolded across the decades. Even before the city had its steel plant or naval base, the school witnessed generations of students pass through its classrooms. Today, as the school celebrates its 175th anniversary, its history offers a glimpse into how education for girls in Visakhapatnam has evolved.

“Celebrating 175 years is not something to be taken lightly,” says Sr. Fathima Mary, principal of the school. “It is a significant milestone.” She shares that the jubilee year runs from March 1, 2026, to March 1, 2027, and that the celebrations were formally opened on August 5, as the early months fell in the summer holidays and the examination season. The closing ceremony is planned for January 2027, she adds.

The school’s history began when a small party of sisters from France established a primary school for girls near St. Ann’s Cathedral at Fort area in the Old Town in 1852, which was then described as a little fishing village.

The school in its jubilee note traces its lineage back to 1650, when Father Jean Pierre Médaille founded the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph at Le Puy in France, dedicated to humble service, particularly the education of the young and the care of those in need. The link to this coast was Father Sebastian Neyret of the Missionaries of St. Francis de Sales (MSFS), who later became a bishop and reached Visakhapatnam in 1846.

He appealed to Mother Aloysia, Superior General of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Annecy, to send sisters to India. The first party of four sisters set out on February 24, 1849, and, after a turbulent journey at sea, arrived at Yanam in Puducherry on December 5.

The chapel in the new building of Fort Catholic Girls' School in Old Town, Visakhapatnam. | Photo Credit: V. RAJU

A second group of six, led by Mother St. John Boissart, sailed from France on June 30, 1851. Yanam was their intended destination, but they landed at Visakhapatnam on December 9, 1851. The school’s history documents this halt as a significant turning point.

The sisters, who were warmly welcomed by Bishop Neyret, met with sights of poverty, illiteracy, and the plight of orphaned children on their arrival. In March 1852, the MSFS entrusted the historic Fort House, near St. Ann’s Cathedral, to them, and it became their first convent in the city. Soon afterwards, they opened the first Catholic primary school for girls at Fort, with an orphanage attached.

Despite limited resources, the effort won the community’s confidence. The school received government recognition in 1856, and in 1884 Father John Mary Clerc acquired a larger building to house the rising numbers.

The years that followed brought several changes. The school received recognition up to Class 7 in 1987, and for Classes 8 to 10 in the following year. The management then decided that the school should follow the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) syllabus.

An inspection was held in April 1992, and the school was affiliated with the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, New Delhi, on October 23, 1996. The first batch had written the examination in 1995 as private candidates.

“We were the first ICSE batch,” says P. Anuradha Padmavathi, who has been associated with the school for 40 years, first as a student and then as a teacher. She came to the school with her brother, P. Ramchandra Rao, a retired physical training master of the school. Today, she is the head examination coordinator for Visakhapatnam and has served on the ICSE syllabus panel. “It is nothing but a gift from my school,” she says.

(From left) Sr. Mary Daniel, vice-principal; Matilda Francis, alumna of the 1973 batch; Sr. Francisca, correspondent; Sr. Fathima Mary, principal; and P. Anuradha Padmavathi, teacher and alumna, at the statue of Fr. Jean-Pierre Médaille, founder of the Sisters of St. Joseph. | Photo Credit: V. RAJU

For former students, the school holds a more personal significance. Matilda Francis, who joined Class 2 from Waltair Convent and completed her schooling in 1973, says the school was “like a home”. The annual concert and Sports Day, she recalls, carried great warmth. “With about 20 girls in a classroom, the teachers knew each pupil individually. They were very strict, but also caring and loving,” she says.

The day began with moral science, taught as the first period, followed by home science—cooking in the classroom: cakes, gulab jamun and biscuits, she reminisces. “The school’s motto was no labour, no gain,” she adds.

Ms. Francis fondly speaks of a school that did not turn away children for want of means. Girls who could not afford the prescribed uniform were admitted anyway and told to come in whatever appropriate clothing they could manage—a half-sari or a salwar kameez.

The school drew pupils from everywhere, including Sindhis, Punjabis, and Malayalis, and people of different communities. “No girl stopped at the sixth or seventh standard to sit at home,” she says, adding that she and her classmates went on to study at St. Joseph’s College.

Dr. R. Parvathi, a retired Professor of Physiology at Andhra Medical College, studied at the school in the late 1960s. She remembers a town that fell silent at twilight, a large playground across the road where drill was taught, and bougainvillea bushes on either side of the gate against the compound wall. Toffees were sold at a corner of the verandah. “For 10 paise, six toffees! What a deal! They were nothing short of ambrosia in taste,” she writes in the school’s jubilee note. The school, she adds, was “a mini-India, with Anglo-Indian, Malayali, Tamil, Bengali, Gujarati, Sindhi, and Telugu girls.”

For June Gallyot, now the District Sports Development Officer, who joined in the first standard and passed out in 1984–85, sports were an integral part of her school life. She recalls that the school encouraged athletics, hockey, basketball, and handball, and many students went on to compete at the national level.

Gallyot says she played in the under-14 nationals while in fifth standard, as well as in the under-16 school nationals, the sub-junior nationals, and the junior nationals. While still at school, she represented Andhra Pradesh in hockey at the junior national level. She names Cecilia, Sylvia Adams, Judy Fernandes, Lovelyn Bothwick, and Helen Cruze among the hockey players, and recalls Bernadetta and Anita as national-level athletes and Lynette Adams as a basketball player. “The school was a very nurturing ground for sports,” she adds.

She also credits her teachers and says, “Principal Sr. Teresita, though strict, backed the girls’ sporting ambitions, and Mr. Govind, the physical education teacher, helped build the programme.” She recalls that her biology teacher, Linda Hefference, told her, “I strongly believe you can also excel in your studies,” and then proudly adds that she took the science stream and finished in the first class.

For many, the connection to the school continues long after they have left the institution. Begum Iqbal, a member of the 1973 batch and now an advisor at Siva Sivani High School in Marripalem, lists honesty, punctuality, respect for elders, and service among the lessons that have stayed with her.

The Batch of 1977, in a collective tribute written for the jubilee, says that the foundation of who they are today “was laid within the nurturing walls of our school” and credits it with teaching them “how to become better human beings.”

Ms. Padmavathi recalls that years ago, aspirants queued at 4 a.m. for admission forms. New schools now stand on almost every street, yet the school has kept up its strength and its values, with particular stress on discipline, she says. Moral Science still has its place: the timetable reserves periods for it and for catechism, something she calls rare today.

Students of Fort Catholic Girls' School performing a fancy drill at the Police Barracks Grounds in Visakhapatnam on September 19, as part of the 175th year celebrations. | Photo Credit: V. RAJU

Beyond the memories of individuals, the school has also brought together its former students through alumnae groups to stay connected with their alma mater. The FCGS Alumnae Group began in June with the principal’s help and was formally inaugurated on August 5.

Nearly 1,900 former students have been brought together, the principal says, and Ms. Padmavathi adds that two WhatsApp groups spanning the 1950s to 2000 have been created, where members are sharing articles about their classrooms and the city as it was. These will become souvenirs for the closing ceremony, and a magazine is also being planned, she says.

The school has planned a series of celebrations to mark the milestone. After the launch of the celebrations on August 5, a poor-feeding programme was organised on August 19, and the Inter-School Fancy Drill Competition followed on September 19, with city schools and a few from the Araku region taking part. “An Evening with the Alumnae” is set for December 19, and a “Marathon Run for Education” is planned for the same month. Inter-school elocution and other competitions are to follow.

Sr. Mary Daniel, the vice-principal, who first served at the school from 2011 to 2014 and returned in 2025, calls it the first school in India established by the Sisters of St. Joseph, and says the community is “continuing with the same spirit that was entrusted to us by our pioneers”.

The school describes itself as a family “where knowledge is enriched by values, discipline is tempered with compassion, and every student is encouraged to discover her God-given potential”. It has 1,275 students from LKG to Class 10 and 42 teaching and non-teaching staff.

The newly modernised front building of Fort Catholic Girls' School in Old Town, Visakhapatnam. | Photo Credit: V. RAJU