The Alexandra Girls' English Institution (commonly abbreviated as the AGEI), formerly known as the Alexandra Native Girls' English Institution, is a girls-only school in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

, India. Established on 1 September 1863 by

Manockjee Cursetjee Manockjee Cursetjee (also Manekji Khurshedji Shroff) (1808–1887) was a Parsi businessman and judge from Bombay, remembered as a reformer and proponent of female education. Life Cursetjee was the son of Cursetjee Manockjee Shroff, and had an E ...

at his residence Villa Byculla, the institution is named after Princess Alexandra, who became the Princess of Wales upon her marriage to

Albert Edward, Prince of Wales Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910. The second child ...

on 10 March 1863. The school was later moved to its present location at Hazarimal Somani Marg. Imparting education from nursery to tenth grade, the school is affiliated with the

Indian Certificate of Secondary Education The Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) is an academic qualification awarded by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, a private, non-governmental board of education in India. The CISCE conducts these examinati ...

for all the grades up to fourth grade and with the

Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (Abbreviation: MSBSHSE) is a statutory and autonomous body established under the "Maharashtra Secondary Boards Act" 1965 (amended in 1977). Most important task of the board ...

from fifth to tenth grade. Its

student–teacher ratio The student–teacher ratio or student–faculty ratio refers to the number of students who attend a school or university divided by the number of teachers or staff in the institution. For example, a student–teacher ratio of 10:1 indicates that ...

, 1:17, is better than the national ratio of 1:24.

Foundation

The school was founded by Parsi businessman and judge

as the Alexandra Native Girls' English Institution on 1 September 1863 at his residence Villa Byculla in Mumbai (then known as Bombay). He was of opinion that to bring the "required change in society" women's education was important, and with this vision he started this English medium school for Indian girls, initially with 13 students. It was named after

Alexandra of Denmark Alexandra of Denmark (Alexandra Caroline Marie Charlotte Louise Julia; 1 December 1844 – 20 November 1925) was List of British royal consorts, queen-consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, from 22 Januar ...

, then

Princess of Wales Princess of Wales (; ) is a title used since the 14th century by the wife of the Prince of Wales. The Princess is the apparent future queen consort, as "Prince of Wales" is a title reserved by custom for the heir apparent to the Monarchy of the ...

(who later became the

queen consort of the United Kingdom A royal consort is the spouse of a reigning monarch. Consorts of British monarchs have no constitutional status or power but many have had significant influence, and support the sovereign in their duties. There have been 11 royal consorts sinc ...

and the

British Dominions A dominion was any of several largely self-governance, self-governing countries of the British Empire, once known collectively as the ''British Commonwealth of Nations''. Progressing from colonies, their degrees of self-governing colony, colon ...

, and empress consort of India), as Cursetjee believed that she would be an "ideal" for the girls to look up to. The school was later moved to its present location at Hazarimal Somani Marg. It is one of the oldest girls' schools in Mumbai. The school reached its 150th anniversary in 2013 and started its sesquicentennial celebration 1 September 2012. The year-long celebration included issuing of a special postal cover, an inter-school festival, reunion of alumni and releasing school souvenir in April 2013.

Administration

The school is affiliated with the

(MSBSHSE). However, it follows

for all the grades up to fourth grade, and from fifth to tenth grades it follows the

Secondary School Certificate Secondary School Certificate (SSC), Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) or Matriculation examination, is a public examination in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Maldives and Nepal conducted by educational boards for the successful completi ...

curriculum of the MSBSHSE. It is divided into four different sections: pre-primary section comprises grades nursery, lower and higher kindergarten, primary section is from first to fourth grade, middle section includes fifth to seventh grades and secondary school is made up of eighth, ninth and tenth grades. Each grade is further divided into two divisions. The average strength of each grade is 35 and with a current strength of 63 teachers the

of the school is 1:17, which is better than the national ratio of 1:24.

Notable alumni

Bhikaiji Cama Bhikhaiji Rustom CamaBhi''ai''- (with aspirated ''-kh-'') is the name as it appears in the biographies. Another common form is Bhi''ai''- (with unaspirated ''-k-''), as it appears on the postage stamp. The name is also frequently misspelled 'Bh ...

– an Indian independence activist. * Ruby Patel – a Parsi–Gujarati theatre actor. *

Tanaaz Irani Tannaz Irani (née Lal born 8 April 1972) is an Indian actress. She has acted in Bollywood films and Hindi television serials. She has also been credited as Tannaz Lal, her maiden name, and Tanaaz Currim (during her first marriage). Career Ta ...

– a Hindi film and television actor.

References

{{reflist Schools in Colonial India Girls' schools in Maharashtra Private schools in Mumbai Educational institutions established in 1863 1863 establishments in India Alexandra of Denmark