The restoration and redevelopment of the Pensionnat De Jeunes Filles, a listed Grade II A heritage building and India’s only French-medium girls high school run by the Puducherry Government has been completed. The school, which has been functioning from a heritage building, will be finally open for students after the restoration project which began in February 2023.
The redevelopment was taken up under an initiative of the Puducherry Smart City Development Limited (PSCDL).
Official sources said the work was completed before the 2026 Assembly elections. PSCDL has formally handed over the building to the Department of Education.
Located on the Beach Road, the foundation stone for the restoration and redevelopment of the school was laid in February 2023. The work was supposed to be completed in March 2025.
According to INTACH, “The Pensionnat de Jeunes Filles was the Bedier house before the Second French Empire. In 1858, it was rented out and then sold to the colony to house a school for European girls.” | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
However, the project faced repeated delays and PSCDL terminated the work order issued to the contractor. It instead, issued a fresh order to NBCC (India) Ltd., a Central government undertaking to complete the work by August 2024.
The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) is the architectural consultant for PSCDL, while Puducherry Technological University (PTU) is the structural consultant. The school has been refurbished at a cost of ₹7.5 crore.
According to an official, “When the work began, the aim was to preserve the building’s heritage value. The structure was restored based on the methods, techniques and materials primarily used in its original construction. Damaged sections of the Madras tile roof were removed and relaid in the same pattern using lime mortar.”
The Pensionnat De Jeunes Filles was among the three schools functioning in heritage buildings in the city. The other two were V.O. Chidambaram Government Higher Secondary School and the Calve College.
The school holds a special place in Puducherry’s history as it was donated by one Mrs. Smith who expressed a wish that the building must always be used as a school for girls. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The schools were provisionally shut by the government in 2014 after an inspection found the buildings were “unsafe”. The students were shifted to other government schools. The restoration of the two schools was completed in 2023.
In the 1980s, the school faced a different kind of danger when there was a proposal to demolish it to create space for a government building. There were protests, and parents and teachers submitted a petition to the government to preserve the structure. The then Lt. Governor, T.P. Tiwari, passed an order in 1984 to save the school from being razed.
Historical significance
The grade IIA heritage building is constructed in the French architectural style, with a colonnaded portico, a teak staircase, and a wooden-louvered shutter.
According to INTACH, “The Pensionnat de Jeunes Filles was the Bedier house before the Second French Empire. In 1858, it was rented out and then sold to the colony to house a school for European girls. Classes were taught by the nuns of a Catholic order. The site was chosen on the seaside for sanitary and health reasons.”
The school holds a special place in Puducherry’s history as it was donated by one Mrs. Smith who expressed a wish that the building must always be used as a school for girls. Today, it is the only French-medium school for girls in the country. After it was closed in 2014, the students were shifted to another school on Mission Street.