B. V. S. Parsi High School

Bai Virbaijee Soparivala Parsi High School (B.V.S. Parsi High School) is located in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. It was opened on May 23, 1859, as Karachi Parsi Balak Shalla by the Zoroastrian residents of Karachi with the motto, "Towards that best light." The Government of Education - Sindh has rated B.V.S. "The Best Private Boys School for the Millennium".

Early history

The consecration of the first Dokhma (Tower of Silence) in Karachi is dated 22 April 1847. On 25 January 1848 when this Dodoma (Ghadialli's) was completed, the Hirjikaka Agiari, Fire temple, situated in the Saddar Bazar, was also commenced. This shows that by the middle of the nineteenth century the Parsi community in Karachi had settled in appreciable numbers.

The first available census figures of 1872 show that there were only 777 Parsis: 427 males and 350 females. The child population must have grown considerably, for within ten years of the opening ceremony of the Hirjikaka's Dare Meher, on 3 May 1849, a move was made to open a school for the Parsi children of Karachi.

The second volume of the Parsi Prakash, of Seth Bomanji Patel, mentions as a footnote the following:"The Zoroastrian residents of Karachi feeling the need of imparting religious education and a knowledge of Gujarati, commenced collecting donations and subscriptions from the members of the community and opened on the 23 May 1859 "The Parsi Balakshala". The lead in this matter was taken by Seth...
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