Tyndale Biscoe School

Tyndale Biscoe School is a school in the Sheikh Bagh neighbourhood, in the Lal Chowk area of Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India.[1] The school was founded in 1880 CE and is one of the oldest schools in Jammu and Kashmir, the oldest being S.P school which was founded in 1874 CE.[2] The school was started by Christian missionaries and was named after Canon Cecil Tyndale-Biscoe (1863–1949).[3] It still has affiliations with the Church Mission Society. The first principal was Reverend J.H.Knowles. Alistair R A Freese is the principal while Parvez Samuel Kaul, a former Principal, is now the director of the institution Tyndale Biscoe School is known for its extra-curricular activities, especially swimming, skiing, mountain climbing, camping and regatta.[4] School placed emphasis on physical activities including mountaineering, tug-of-war, trekking, boxing, boating, football, cricket, and swimming stimulating sense of courage, masculinity and physical fitness.[5] When football was introduced in the Valley by Missionary School, there was resistance initially. Students felt the cow leather was holy and touching the ball, made out of it, was blasphemous. Instead they played football with a wooden clog (known as Khraav in Kashmiri) in their feet. Similarly, when boating was introduced in Mission School students did not like boating because, in Kashmiri society, boatmen weren't consider respectable members of the society. But later it was adopted and the Mission School boys became efficient paddlers and rowers