Old Cottonians gift a Parents' Room to alma mater

Shimla: The more than half a century old Bishop Cotton School (BCS),
which boasts of famous alumni like writer Ruskin Bond and golfer Arjun
Atwal, has a trendy new room on campus - not for students but for
their parents.

Parents of this leading boys boarding school used to remain standing
in sun, rain or snow while visiting their wards. But now the
construction of a swanky Parents' Room will make it convenient for
them to meet their children.

The nearly Rs.250,000 Parents' Room, which can accommodate up to 40
people, was gifted by a 1985 batch of boys to their alma mater.

Punjab-based industrialist Navneet Behl, who first conceptualized the
idea of a Parents' Room and got his batchmates together, for the
project is elated that the project has come through.

Behl told the sources, "We feel proud to have given this gift to our
school. This institution has given so much to us."

The room, designed with a modern look and amenities, was inaugurated
last week by actor and old Cottonian (OC) Kumar Gaurav.

"We had seen our parents visiting us and meeting in the open or
wherever one could find a place on campus. Even as parents ourselves,
we found that a meeting room for parents was a necessity," Aninderjit
Singh, an OC of the 1985 batch said.

Golfers Jeev Milkha Singh and Atwal, union minister and former
Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh and writer Raaja
Bhasin are some of the other prominent names of the school.

Established in 1859, the Bishop Cotton School is now ranked second
among the boys boarding schools, after the Doon School and fourth
among all boarding schools in the country.

"It is a great gesture on the part of the batch of 1985 to have
thought of the idea of having a Parents' Room. This will immensely
help visiting parents," Headmaster Roy Christopher Robinson told the
sources.

Robinson, who has been ranked among the 30 best principals in the
country by the magazine 'Education World', allowed the batch of 1985
to convert an old storeroom of the school, located near the main
building of the school adjoining the school museum, into the new
Parents' Room.

Students of the school too are happy about this room.

"The room is a great idea. Parents can now come and meet their sons
comfortably," school captain Uday Vir Punta said.

The opening of the Parents' Room has come at a time when the school's
former captain, Bhanu Pratap, has set a record in the institution's
151-year history, scoring 100 out 100 marks in mathematics and an
overall percentage of over 96 percent in Class 10 boards. IANS