Junior School
The foundations: Nepali, English, mathematics and the beginnings of the sciences.
Founded 1974 · Entrance examination in Magh
Fifty-one years of academic distinction
Founded by the tea estates of Ilam so their children would not have to be sent away, Kanchenjunga College has taught the eastern hills for half a century — and still reads the roll aloud every morning.
“Sapientia et Virtus” — Wisdom and virtue
1974 Founded by the tea estates of Ilam 4 houses Since the first assembly 9,400 Alumni on the register 87 Distinctions in the last NEB series
At a glance
The record of a Kanchenjunga education
1,060
Students, Grades 1 to 12
92
Members of the teaching faculty
51
Years of unbroken teaching
87
NEB distinctions this year
The college
A scholarly tradition, kept deliberately unfashionable
Kanchenjunga College was founded in 1974 by the tea estates of Ilam, who wanted their children educated without sending them to Darjeeling. Fifty-one years later we still teach in the same hall, and we still read the roll aloud every morning.
The house system, the prefects, the Saturday lecture and the leaving examination have all survived. What changed is everything behind them: laboratories, a computing block, and a faculty of ninety-two.
9,400
Alumni
4
Houses
The house system
Kanchenjunga, Kumbhakarna, Jannu and Pathibhara — every student belongs to one for life.
Scholarship first
Every subject examined internally twice a year, in the hall, in silence.
Masters who stay
The average member of faculty has taught here for fourteen years.
51
Years
Academics
The course of study
Twelve years, four divisions, and one leaving examination at the end of each.
Middle School
Subject masters take over, the laboratories open, and the first house colours are awarded.
Senior School
Two years of preparation for the SEE, with compulsory Saturday tutorials from Ashwin.
The Higher Secondary
NEB Science, Management and Humanities, with the university counselling office attached.
Beyond the classroom
Life outside the timetable
The houses
Four houses, one cup, fifty-one years of argument
Points are awarded for athletics, debate, drama, music and academic standing. The cup has been won by Jannu nineteen times, which the other three houses do not consider settled.
AthleticsDebateDrama
See school life Service
Every senior student serves
Grades 11 and 12 teach evening literacy classes in the tea gardens, run the library, and take the junior school’s reading hour. It is a requirement, not a club.
Literacy programmeLibrary dutyReading hour
Our community
From the college community
My father sat his leaving examination in that hall in 1981. My daughter sat hers in the same room last Poush. Very little needed to be explained to either of them.
Bhim Prasad Limbu
Parent and alumnus, 1981
The Saturday tutorials are hard on a fifteen-year-old and I complained about them for a year. She got a distinction in additional mathematics, so I have stopped.
Sarita Rai
Parent, Grade 10
What the college gave me was the habit of finishing things. I have not found a better thing to be given.
DA
Dr Anjana Subba
Alumna, 2004
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