The reconstruction of the Pensionnat De Jeunes Filles — India’s only French-medium girls high school, run by the Puducherry government on the Beach Road is nearing completion
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
After facing much delays, the restoration and redevelopment of the decades-old Pensionnat De Jeunes Filles which is India’s only French-medium girls high school, run by the Puducherry government, is nearing completion.
Located on the Beach Road, the foundation stone for the the reconstruction of the school was laid in February 2023. The work was supposed to be completed in March 2025.
However, the project faced repeated delays and the Puducherry Smart City Development Limited (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 PSCDL has planned to complete the work by next month (December 2025).
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 work costs ₹7.5 crore.
According to an official, “When the restoration work began, the idea was to retain the heritage value of the building. The structure was restored based on the methods, techniques and materials primarily used in its original construction. The damaged portions of the madras tile roofing was removed and relaid in the same pattern with lime mortar. About 85% of the work has been completed. and the building will be handed over to the Department of Education soon.”
The reconstruction of the Pensionnat De Jeunes Filles in Puducherry is expected to be completed by December 2025
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
The two-storey French architecture-styled building, which remained in a precarious condition, was provisionally shut down along with two other government schools that functioned out of heritage buildings in 2014, after the collapse of the 144-year-old Marie (Town Hall) building on the Beach Promenade.
In the 1980s, the school faced a different a 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.
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 sea-side for sanitary and health reasons, according to Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage.
The building was donated by Smith family, who wished for the building to 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.
Published – November 23, 2025 03:18 pm IST
