Basel Evangelical Mission Parsi High School, Thalassery
Encyclopedia
Basel Evangelical Mission Parsi (BEMP) School, Thalassery
, India
, started a century-and-a-half ago with 74 students. Thalassery was once an important trading centre of the East India Company and the British administrative headquarters of the erstwhile Malabar district
. The school has 1150 students.
.
The present building of the school, located in the centre of the town, was built in 1903. The spacious hall of the building, roof made of huge wooden beams, and old-style roof tiles add to its heritage value.
Those who taught at the school included Dr. Gundert, who compiled the first Malayalam dictionary, and Keeleri Kunhikannan, who served as gymnastic instructor at the school and was considered the father of the Indian circus.
Translator and author Thatha Kanaran who translated the works Walter Scott and Samuel Johnson served as the school headmaster. English scholar R. Mukunda Mallar worked as teacher at the school.
Thalassery
Thalassery , also known as Tellicherry, is a city on the Malabar Coast of Kerala, India. This is the second largest city of North Malabar in terms of population. The name Tellicherry is the anglicized form of Thalassery. Thalassery municipality has a population just less than 100,000. Established...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, started a century-and-a-half ago with 74 students. Thalassery was once an important trading centre of the East India Company and the British administrative headquarters of the erstwhile Malabar district
Malabar District
Malabar District was an administrative district of Madras Presidency in British India and independent India's Madras State. The British district included the present-day districts of Kannur, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Malappuram, Palakkad , and Chavakad Taluk of Thrissur District in the northern part of...
. The school has 1150 students.
History
In 1856 the school was started as Basel German Mission School. It was later re-christened BEMP School as a mark of respect to Kaikose Ruderasha, a Parsi philanthropist who donated funds for the development of the school. The school, managed by the North Kerala Diocese of the Church of South India, was upgraded to a high school by Rev. C. Mueller who came here to assist German missionary Hermann GundertHermann Gundert
Rev. Dr. Hermann Gundert was a German missionary and scholar, who compiled a Malayalam grammar book, Malayalabhaasha Vyakaranam , the first Malayalam-English dictionary , and translated the Bible into Malayalam. He worked primarily at Tellicherry on the Malabar coast, in Kerala, India...
.
The present building of the school, located in the centre of the town, was built in 1903. The spacious hall of the building, roof made of huge wooden beams, and old-style roof tiles add to its heritage value.
Those who taught at the school included Dr. Gundert, who compiled the first Malayalam dictionary, and Keeleri Kunhikannan, who served as gymnastic instructor at the school and was considered the father of the Indian circus.
Translator and author Thatha Kanaran who translated the works Walter Scott and Samuel Johnson served as the school headmaster. English scholar R. Mukunda Mallar worked as teacher at the school.
Notable alumni
- P. Sankunni is principal of Victoria College, Palakkad
- Malayalam satirist Oyyarathu ChandumenonOyyarathu ChandumenonOyyarathu Chandumenon was a Malayalam language novelist from Kerala state, South India who wrote Indulekha in 1889, the first Malayalam fictional work which met with all the requisite characteristics typical of a novel according to a widely accepted Malayalam literary convention...
- Short story writer Murkot Kumaran
- Communist leader A. K. GopalanA. K. GopalanAyillyath Kuttiari Gopalan , 1 October 1904 to March 22, 1977, popularly known as A. K. Gopalan or AKG, was an Indian communist leader and first leader of opposition of India.- Early life and education :...
- Freedom fighters Nettur. P. Damodaran, I. K. KumaranI. K. KumaranIrayi Kunnathidathil Kumaran Master , was a freedom fighter from Mahe or Mayyazhi, Union territory of India, who fought for liberation from France, in 1954. He was also unsuccessfully fought for the unification of Mayyazhi with Kerala.He is known as Mahe Gandhi. Kumaran was the first regional...
and Moyyarath Shankaran - Socialist leader P.R. Kurup
- Union Minister of State for External Affairs E. AhammedE. AhammedE. Ahamed is the Minister of State for the Ministry of External Affairs and minister of state for Human Resource Development of the Republic of India. He represents the Malappuram Lok Sabha constituency of Kerala and is a member of the Indian Union Muslim League...
- Reserve Bank of India deputy governor Vittal Das Leeladhar
- Retired administrator Murkot Ramunny
- former Calicut University Vice-Chancellor A.N.P. Ummerkutty