London college is a mixed secondary institution. It has more than 1400 students but the discipline and silence in the school is remarkable. Harold Chan Lam, the founder and manager of the school, says that discipline is the best virtue that a person can have and, therefore, his college ensures that each and every student moves to adulthood with this particular quality.

“If we master discipline in our life, we will easily acquire other values. A person who has no discipline has no future, this is what we believe in, and this is what we teach our students,” he says.

He adds that through the discipline that exists in the school, the students learn and understand the importance of keeping the surroundings clean. He believes that if the students keep the school clean, the cleaners also will get less work to do and will therefore do their job well, with more dedication.

Harold is also a strong believer in mixed education. He says: “The system has proved to be beneficial to the students from what I can see in my ins­titution. Normally, boys tend to believe that they are superior to girls and are, therefore, much better than they. However, when they study in the same class, the boys realise that the girls are as good as they are or even better. This creates a certain competition among the boys and girls and they give their best to succeed. Mixed education gives both boys and girls equal opportunities. They learn to respect each other and understand each others' problems. Since boys and girls are meant to live together once they are adults, why separate them during their teenage years?”

An advantage
An opinion which is shared by the President of the Students’ Council, Hansley Duval.  A student of HSC, Hansley says: “I think it is an advantage for both boys and girls to study together. We create better contacts with each other, more friendship. This friendship will help us in our lives later. We really learn to respect each other and avoid misunderstandings or prejudices that we may have regarding each other.”

Hansley affirms that the school provides the same education to the boys and girls. “The school is one of the pioneers to introduce agriculture as a subject up to SC level. Much before, agriculture was a subject only for the boys, and the girls during that time learned home economics, needlework, cookery. Later, the administration realised that no subject should be reserved for boys or girls. Since then, agriculture and home economics are compulsory subjects for both boys and girls up to Form III,” he says.

The students are given the chance to have their practical work in agriculture in their school farm of two and a half acres of land at Pointe aux Sables. Harold says: “In Mauritius, we tend to look down on planters. But I believe that the true value of Mauritius is its land, its plantations and crops. From what it was, Mauritius has come so far thanks to agriculture.  The children of this generation and the coming generation should know the difficulty and hard work that our ancestors have gone through to succeed. If every family was to plant a few crops in its yard, we would be self-sufficient. Agriculture helps to feed oneself is a pleasure as well. We should love to work the land because it is the land that feeds us.”

Teaching agriculture
Mahen Tilloo has been teaching agriculture at London College since 1995. He says that everything linked to agriculture and plantation is taught to the students. “Students are taught the chemistry of soil, about plants and animals, the structure of a farm, the different tools to be used in gardening. They are also introduced to engineering mechanics, a field which deals with machines in the plantation fields and also a bit of botany. It is a general overview of the different components in agriculture,” says Mahen.

As a teacher, he is satisfied with the results the students get almost every year as the pass rate in agriculture is 100%.  He adds that agriculture is the only subject which develops the abilities, knowledge and skills of a student. “The true skill of a student should not be judged only through reading and writing. Practical work is important too. Once they become adults, these practical things will be useful to them,” he says.

The school
London College was founded in 1966 by Harold Chan Lam with less than 100 students at Rémy Ollier Street in Port Louis. In 1968, a branch was opened at Pope Henessy Street and in 1973, another department saw the day at the corner of Rémy Ollier and Jummah Mosque Streets.

In the same year, construction started at the R.Seeneevassen Street to bring all the three branches under one roof. The classes started in 1974 but the construction of the building went on till 1994. The co-ed college has under its care the education of more than 1400 students who are coached by 53 teachers.
The average pass rate for SC and HSC is 95% and 80% respectively.