Devagiri CMI Public School
Devagiri CMI Public School (DCMIPS) is nestled on the salubrious ‘Hill of God’, Devagiri, in a sylvan ambience adjacent to the prestigious St. Joseph’s College. What was once a bushy and deserted place became an abode of learning for the tiny tots of the Kindergarten in 2002 under the pioneering leadership and tutelage of Rev. Fr. John Mannarathara CMI. The KG brought joy to the neighbourhood with the support of Ms. Anuradha V who became Fr. John’s right arm in running the school which was about to rise from the isolated area.
In 2005, Rev. Fr. Mathew Chalil CMI, the Provincial of St. Thomas Province, laid the foundation stone for the school complex. Since the school’s inception, it has grown stone by stone, brick by brick, into a well-recognized and much appreciated Secondary School. It provided state of the art infrastructure and facilities such as spacious and well-ventilated classrooms, computer, and science laboratories, digitally equipped home theatre and conference room, auditorium, indoor stadium, basketball court, and most of all, a “Go Green” campus - a home for many varieties of trees, shrubs, flowers, birds and insects. It was a momentous event when the school became affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in 2007 and upgraded to senior secondary level in 2010. Even in its very young years, the school was a contender to be reckoned with not only because of its physical attributes but mainly because of the staff whose calibre was manifested in the academic performance of students.
In April 2015, the school experienced a change in leadership. Fr. Johny Kanjirathinkal CMI, the former principal of Silver Hills Higher Secondary School, took the wheel as the new principal of Devagiri CMI Public School.
Under Fr. Johny Kanjirathinkal’s charge, new developments continued in the different aspects of the school. The institution has made great strides in terms of infrastructures and facilities. In 2016, the kindergarten building was elegantly renovated with a centralized air conditioning system. Known for its aesthetic and nature-friendly surroundings, both the kindergarten and the school turned digital in the same year with much excitement from the students and teachers alike. Kids of the KG, class I to IV and IX to XII now enjoy the features of smart board technology, providing them with creative ways or methods for learning. Not only do the students of IX to XII have the digital board that facilitates learning, but they also now have a new building of their own. In the same year of 2016, Fr. Joseph Paikada CMI, Manager, Devagiri Institutions, laid the foundation stone for the construction of the senior secondary section. After one year, the new building was inaugurated. Now, it stands as a four-storey structure fully equipped with laboratories, a digital conference room, and a canteen. The provision of lifts and hallways connecting the buildings, as well as the setting up of smart boards for class V to VIII are currently underway.
On the co-curricular front, the Girls Band which was organized in 2015 became an unbeatable force both in the district and state level competitions till date. Another set of precious milestones that elated the DCMIPS family was securing, for the very first time, the Overall Championship in the Malabar Sahodaya Athletics Championship in 2015, the Overall Championship in the Sahodaya CBSE Kozhikode District Kalotsav in 2017, and the Aggregate Championship in the Sahodaya CBSE State Kalotsav 2018. The first basketball team also gave a ring of glory to the school when it won the Inter-school Championship in 2018. This achievement served as a ticket for the team to participate in the Nationals in 2019. Another milestone was the launching of the annual Four-day Residential Camp called Thanmayi, a one of a kind camp for incoming class X students. To further develop the social conscience of the school, Dev Santhwanam, the first social outreach and education program was organized in 2018. This program has enabled the school to adopt a community for a year and extend assistance to them in different aspects. Construction of houses for the community has also been a major project along this line. Also in 2018, the school was bestowed with three national and international Educational Leadership/Prominent Educationist awards. In 2020, the school conducted its first-ever National Quiz Competition, Dev Jnan 1.0.
As the student community maintains its place of excellence in the academic sphere with board toppers lifting the school, year after year, 2020 marks a special place in the school’s academic life. Class X student, Siddharth M. Nair, has secured 3rd rank in the All India AISSE, pushing the boundaries even much further and raising the bar even much higher for all stakeholders.
The two pillars of the school, Fr. John Mannarathara CMI and Fr. Johny Kanjirathinkal CMI, in tandem, have kept it standing strong and sturdy atop the hill of achievement throughout the years. They have played a pivotal role in the success stories of the school community and have placed it in the educational map of Kerala. They have served as benchmarkers and have provided the inspiring vision that, given the conducive atmosphere and right tools, students can “...succeed beyond what they thought possible”.