Travel

 Panchgani, called Paachgani, is a hill station and municipal council in Satara district in Maharashtra, India. Panchgani attracts tourists throughout the year. It is also known for having many convent boarding schools.

Panchgani is around 108 kilometres from Pune and 250 kilometres from Mumbai.

History

Table Land, Panchgani

Panchgani was developed by the British during the British Raj as a summer resort under the supervision of Lord John Chesson in the 1860s. Panchgani was developed as a retirement place because its climate remained pleasant throughout the year. He surveyed the hills of this region with Rustomji Dubash and finally decided on this nameless area around the five villages: Dandeghar, Godavali, Ambral, Khingar, and Taighat. The place was aptly named Panchgani, meaning land between five villages, and Chesson was made the superintendent. To develop the infrastructure, Chesson encouraged various professionals - tailors, dhobis, butchers, vegetable vendors, building contractors - to also settle in Panchgani. The area below the bazaar was allotted to them, and is now known as the gaothan. He is credited with planting plant species from the western world in Panchgani, including silver oak and poinsettia, which have flourished since then in Panchgani. Chesson was buried in the graveyard of St. Peter's Church. In 1971 or '72, his death centenary was observed in a big way, when for the first time, the town folk and the schools participated together in a ceremony to remember the founder of Panchgani.

Boarding schools

A number of schools were started in the 19th century across different communities, and Panchgani started flourishing as an educational town.

In the 1890s, Kimmins High School was started for European boys and girls. 1902, the boys' section separated to become European Boys High School, now known as St. Peter's School, Panchgani, and Kimmins became an exclusive girls' school. In 1895, the Roman Catholic order of nuns known as "Daughters of The Cross" started St. Joseph's Convent School, Panchgani. All three boarding schools were modeled on the English Public Schools of that time, and were affiliated to Cambridge University. The board exams would be held in December, the question papers being sent from England by sea. The answer papers were sent back by sea and the results were declared in June.

Shortly afterward, other communities started their schools. These schools were affiliated to matriculation examination of the Bombay Presidency. The Parsi School, the first of these schools, later became the Billimoria School. The Muslim School became the Union High School, and is now known as Anjuman-I-Islam School. Both these schools were modelled on the English Public Schools. Hindu High School was started, now known as the Sanjeewan Vidyalaya. This was modelled on Rabindranath Tagore's Shantiniketan. The National Spiritual Assembly of the Baháʼís of India runs the New Era High School. A retired teacher from the Parsi High School, Mr. S. M. Batha started the S.M. Batha School, Panchgani International School and junior College is also one of the Best School in Panchgani.