The Girgaon school that has churned out CJIs, litterateurs

Hindustan Times

3 days ago

MUMBAI: On Sunday, a special visitor will walk the halls of Shirolkar High School in Girgaon. As he strolls through the assembly hall and classrooms, memories of his school days will likely come rushing back – like the time his teacher scolded him and his classmate Vinayak Joshi (who became a CA later) for 'never drawing beyond the triangular mountain and right-angle tree' in art class. Mumbai, India. July 02, 2025: View of Shirodkar High School in the Girgaon area in south Mumbai. Mumbai, India. July 02, 2025. (Photo by Raju Shinde/ HT Photo) (Raju Shinde)
That visitor will be Bhushan Gavai, Chief Justice of India, who will become a schoolboy again – just for a day – when he returns to his alma mater.
Gavai – among a long list of remarkable alumni – studied at Shirolkar High School for five formative years, from Class 5 to Class 8, before he moved on in 1973. The school, run by the Chikitsak Samuh trust, was established in 1908 and was one of only a handful of premium Marathi schools in Mumbai at the time.
Apart from Gavai, the school was alma mater to another former Chief Justice of India, UU Lalit, who completed his matriculation here in 1974, and visited the school a few years ago. Other notable alumni include writer Jaywant Dalvi, music director Yashwant Deo, actor Milind Soman, journalist and Nava-Kal founder Neelkanth Khadilkar, Arjuna Award-winning cueist Anuja Thakur, and senior bureaucrats such as DM Sukhtankar, who is former chief secretary of Maharashtra.
The school was established by a physician, Dr Vitthal Sukhtankar, a social worker Jagannath Pilgaonkar, and local journalist Bal Kabadi. The mission was to offer quality education in Marathi during a period of sweeping intellectual and social reform across India. The partition of Bengal had just taken place and national pride was running high. Social reformers and nationalist leaders saw education as a powerful tool to encourage young minds to take pride in their roots and aspire to serve the nation.
The school actually has its origins in 1906, when it operated out of Mugbhat Chawl in Girgaon. It was reinvented when the Chikitsak Samuh trust revived a local primary school on the verge of shutting down. The school, Potdar Primary School, had been launched by writer and educator, Vasudev Potdar, from the profits of his printing business.
By 1917, Potdar Primary School had grown into a full-fledged high school. Although the medium of instruction was Marathi, it taught mathematics and science in English – an unusual practice in the early 20th century. This bilingual approach kept the curriculum contemporary in an era where English was widespread under British colonial rule. It also helped its students compete in the civil services exams, while opening doors to an education overseas, for those who could afford it.
An article published in an old souvenir of the school referred to the visit of education officer, Frank Anderson, to the school in 1909. Anderson remarked, 'I was particularly struck with the kindergarten.'
The institution got its present name from philanthropist Vishnu Shirolkar, who was inspired by its track record. The school was regularly producing toppers, like Kashinath Sukhtankar, who bagged the prestigious Jagannath Shankarsheth scholarship in 1921; and Purshottam Lad¸ who stood first in the Bombay Province, the next year.
Shirolkar set aside ₹1 lakh in his will to help the institution expand with a new building. The money came through in 1937, and the school renamed after him.
Shirolkar High School was truly fulfilling its promise of offering a top-class education. After Independence, the number of students swelled so much that it became the first Marathi school to hold classes in two shifts.
'In the good old days, this school was considered one of the most respected schools in South Bombay. Unfortunately, with the younger generation increasingly opting for an English-medium education, many iconic institutions in Girgaon like Chikitsak, Aryan and Ram Mohan have been falling behind,' says Lalit.
'I owe who I am today to this school and my teachers. They gave me the foundation I needed to grow,' Lalit says, adding, 'I am still in touch with some of my classmates from pre-primary school.'
Vinayak Joshi, a batch-mate of Gavai, shares memories from the 1970s. 'I lived in Tarabagh, and although most kids in our area went to Aryan, three of us studied at Shirolkar. Bhushan (Gavai) was very soft-spoken, always smiling. He never flaunted the fact that he came to school in an Ambassador car—a big deal in those days!' The Ambassador belonged to Gavai's father, R S Gavai, a senior politician and, later, founder of the Republican Party of India (Gavai).
Joshi, a chartered accountant and who also manages the school's alumni network, says the school set the bar really high. 'Our evaluations were tough, but it made us better. I stood 36th in India in the CA exams, and many others from our batch did well too.'
Another distinguished alumnus is DM Sukhtankar, now 93. A former chief secretary in the Government of Maharashtra, Sukhtankar says he specifically chose Shirolkar School when his family moved from Vadodara to Mumbai. 'The education system and the teachers were well known, so I chose this school for Class 9. The bilingual education helped immensely in my higher studies.'
The former senior bureaucrat adds that along with his batch-mate Arvind Dev, he cracked the UPSC exam. 'Dev joined the Indian Foreign Service and I chose the IAS,' he says. Sukhthankar fondly recalls his English teacher Mr Nagnath Pai, and another teacher, HP Paygaonkar, as formative influences.
With more than 800 students on its rolls today, Shirolkar High School, a government-aided institution, has survived the shift to an English-medium education. Chairperson Kishore Rangnekar, who has led the Chikitsak Samuh trust since 2005, says, 'At one point, we had more than 2,000 students. Even as numbers declined, we chose to stick with Marathi medium instead of switching. Today, only Shirolkar and Aryan High School have survived in Girgaon.'
He says that Patkar-Varde College in Goregaon, also run by the Chikitsak Samuh, provides financial support to the school. 'Most of our students come from lower-income families. Our alumni sponsor uniforms, books, scholarships and some extracurricular activities. Thanks to them, we have set up a computer lab and have support for sports like kabaddi,' says Rangnekar.
This generosity echoes a tradition set by the Chikitsak Samuh, as alumni step up to give back—just as the school itself has supported other institutions in the past. For instance, the Chikitsak Samuh had rescued the Maratha High School, established to educate Dalits and which had Dr B R Ambedkar on its rolls, in 1949. By lending teachers and offering financial support, the trust brought it back from the brink of closure.
This year, Shirolkar High School entered a new phase by launching an ICSE section, a strategy to adapt to modern educational demands. 'There is no other Marathi school between Colaba and Girgaon offering the kind of quality education we do,' says Rangnekar.
On Sunday, when Gavai returns to the school that shaped him, it will be more than a visit, it will be a homecoming filled with heartfelt reflections.