Century-old CBM School and AVN School in Visakhapatnam to be shut down permanently

The century-old schools in Visakhapatnam, Canadian Baptist Mission (CBM) School and the AVN School, are being shut down permanently due to lack of funds and man force. Set up in the 19th century, these were the first generation English medium schools that were established in the city. The aided teachers at these schools will be transferred to the government-run schools in neighbouring localities. Though the school authorities have initially planned to recruit new teachers to continue the services in a private model, they have decided against it stating that they are not willing to collect fees from the students. These schools provided free of cost education for over a century.

The CBM and AVN schools were partially funded by the government, which has now been terminated. Students from classes 6 to 9 will be given TCs and shifted to nearby GVMC-run schools, informed the officials. The schools have last worked on 5 May 2022, post which they remained closed.

Established in 1836, the CBM School in Visakhapatnam was one of the earliest English medium high schools in South India under British rule. Thousands of students have passed out of this educational institution and was a pioneer in spreading quality education in Visakhapatnam. Located near the old post office in the One Town area, this was one of the most sought-after schools back in its time. But since 2004, no aided teachers were employed by the CBM School, leading to a drop in the quality of education. Currently, only a hundred students are pursuing education at this institute under the tutelage of four aided teachers. With the school being shut down, the students here will be sent to the MVDM High School.

The AVN School was instituted in Visakhapatnam in the year 1860 by the then District Collector, Inspector of Schools of Madras Presidency, Zamindar Gajapati Rao, and educationist CV Swamy Naidu. It was later aided by the Ankitam family of Visakhapatnam. Nobel laureate Sir CV Raman, freedom fighter Alluri Sitarama Raju, and several prominent personalities in various fields have pursued education here. With only 280 students and 15 aided teachers, the authorities had no choice but shut down their services which lasted for ages. These students and teachers will now be shifted to government-run schools.