Dr Graham's Homes

100-year Graham's takes a battering

Kalimpong, Sept. 20: Sunday's earthquake has caused extensive damage to the 111-year-old Dr. Graham's Homes, forcing authorities of the premier educational institution in the hill town to suspend classes from nursery to Class VIII till October 10.
The school will remain open for students of Classes IX, X, XI and XII.
The quake has damaged 19 of the 22 cottages that house the co-ed school's 900-odd boarders. Some classrooms, too, have developed cracks. The Katherine Memorial Chapel and the Steele Memorial Centre, the school's infirmary, have also developed multiple cracks.
Seven of the 19 damaged cottages have been evacuated. "We have accommodated the boarders from the seven cottages in other cottages and the KG section," headmaster S.L. Banerjee said.
Most of the damaged cottages are over 100 years old.
Spread over 500 acres, the school, founded in 1900 by Scottish missionary Dr John A. Graham, also has a workshop, a bakery, three playgrounds and a farm.
The headmaster said some of the 11 staff quarters, including his, had suffered structural damage. "Initially we thought we would carry out repairs during the Puja holidays (scheduled from October 2 to 10). However, engineers advised us that given the widespread damage, it would take more time to repair the structures. That is why we decided to suspend classes from nursery to Class VIII from today till October 10," he added.
The school has a student strength of 1,460, of whom 920 are boarders.
The boarders whose classes have been suspended have started leaving for their homes. "They will return on October 11 and, normally, classes will resume the next day," Banerjee said.
The headmaster said the damaged structures didn't appear to be beyond repair. "We have not estimated the damage caused to our property. We will have to look at the comparative costs of restoration and of rebuilding the damaged properties," he added.
The seven other ICSE schools in the town resumed classes from today after a day's holiday following the quake.
"The other schools have not suffered much damage," said E.B. Sherpa, the president of the Kalimpong unit of the Janmukti Secondary Teachers' Organisation's ICSE/CBSE wing.
Sherpa said his organisation would soon hold a meeting to discuss the damage caused to Dr. Graham's Homes.
"Homes is a heritage school of not just Kalimpong but the entire hills," he said. "We will all come together to help Homes recover from the destruction."

For those associated with Dr.Graham's Homes, this is a sad event.
I had visited it once during Inter-school sports.
It is a beautiful place.
Let us hope it build's itself fast, as I know it will.