Government Higher Secondary School for Girls, Cotton Hill

Government Higher Secondary School for Girls, Cotton Hill is a school for girls located in Vazhuthacaud in the city of Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of the Indian state of Kerala.

Campus
GGHSS Cotton Hill has a total area of 9 acres of wooded land.

History
The school opened in 1859 under Maharaja Sri Uthram Thirunal as a free school for girls in Thiruvananthapuram. It operated in the present day Government Sanskrit College building at Palayam until the tenure of C. P. Ramaswami Iyer, the Diwan of Travancore.

Later it was split into three by C. P. Ramaswami Iyer, one of which located in Paruthikunnu (Cotton Hill) with upper primary (UP) and primary sections, Later it was upgraded to a high school (HS) in 1935 and the lower primary section got bifurcated. The government decided to de-link the UP and HS. Resistance from the public led the government to abandon the plan.

In 1997, the Kerala Government decided to delink pre-degree courses from universities and introduced two years HSS course (Plus two course) in selected high schools. The school was recognized as a "school of excellence" making it a role model for other schools.

Cotton Hill is one of the first government schools in Kerala to receive a 24x7 CCTV surveillance system to ensure the safety of students

The school educates more than 10,000 students every year. Cotton Hill School is one of the largest girls' school in Asia.

Clubs
The school has active clubs convened by respective departments: English club, Sanskrit club, Energy club, IT Club, NCC, Sports, Forestry club, Health club, Social Science Club, Teenage club.