St Paul’s School in Darjeeling has completed 200 years and charted programmes to celebrate the bicentennial.

One of the oldest boarding schools in India, St Paul’s was established by Anglo-India leader John William Ricketts at Park Street in Calcutta in 1823.

The school, which has attracted students from across the globe, was shifted from Calcutta to Darjeeling in 1863.

The ICSE boys’ school has kicked off the bicentennial celebration by tying up with IIT Kharagpur to establish an Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) lab on the premises of the institution.

“We have tied up with IIT Kharagpur to set up the AI and ML lab. Our teachers will be trained by professors from the IIT and it will be basically a do-it-yourself (DIY)-type lab,” said Peter Lepcha, acting administrator and senior master of the school.

On May 1, which was the foundation day of the school, professors from IIT Kharagpur visited the campus. The faculty members included Professor Suman Chakraborty, dean, sponsored research and industrial consultancy; Professor Vikranth Racjerla and assistant professor Aditya Bandopadhyay of the department of mechanical engineering; assistant professor Adway Mitra of the centre of excellence in AI; and Professor Dipankar Debnath of the department of electrical engineering.

“Yesterday (Tuesday), the IIT professors interacted with the staff and students in the school auditorium and provided valuable inputs about the importance of the AI and ML lab in today’s education system,” said a source at the school.

Bishop Paritosh Canning, the chairman of the board of governors, inaugurated a fully-renovated school chapel, a modernised Cotton Hall dormitory and classrooms to mark the foundation day.

“The event was well attended by former staff members, alumni from various Old Paulite Chapters, Educare Team and members of the board of governors represented by Dr Subir Chourdhury, the secretary, and Dr P.C. Lama, a member,” said Lepcha.

St George’s Anglo-Indian Higher Secondary in Chennai, which was founded in 1715, is considered the oldest functional educational institution in the country.

St Paul’s is planning a year-long event to celebrate the bicentennial, said a source at the school.