Meghalaya's 131-Yr-Old Heritage KJP Girls' School Gutted In Major Fire

All of the boarders residing in the nearby building are secure and were immediately shifted to the community hall in Mission Compound locality.

On the morning of May 21, there was an extensive fire that erupted at the Khasi Jaintia Presbyterian Girls Higher Secondary school. ( Image Source :Pallav Bora )

Guwahati: A major fire broke out at the 131-year-old Khasi Jaintia Presbyterian Girls Higher Secondary School in Meghalaya’s Shillong in the early hours of Sunday, reducing the heritage school building into ashes.

The school building constructed in the late 1800s had a wooden structure that facilitated the rapid spread of the fire. Preliminary reports suggest that the fire originated at approximately 2 am in the morning.

All of the boarders residing in the nearby building are secure and have been moved temporarily to the community hall in Mission Compound locality.

To combat the flames and assist in preserving lives, a total of 15 fire tenders had rushed to the spot. The firefighters struggled for several hours to douse the blaze.

Soon after the fire broke out, Police officials and personnel from the administration quickly arrived at the location to assess the situation. However, the exact cause behind the fire is yet to be ascertained.

The KJP Girls' Higher Secondary School, which was the only school for girls in the Northeast more than a hundred years ago, had celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2017.

The Khasi Jaintia Presbyterian Girls Higher Secondary School was originally a branch of an erstwhile school, established by the Welsh missionaries at Nongsawlia village in Sohra, which was known as Cherrapunjee at that time.

It was however converted into a full-fledged school in 1864.

The Khasi Jaintia Presbyterian Girls Higher Secondary School soon went on to become an exclusive school for girls in 1892, when a missionary of the Welsh Presbyterian Mission Society, took over the administration of the heritage institute of the region.