Barrackpore govt. high school
Barrackpore Govt. High School is situated on B.T. Road near Talpukur in Barrackpore. The school is one of the old and still running schools of Indian subcontinent. The school was established in 1837. Until very recently it was believed that the school was established by Emily Eden however recent researchers vehemently refute to this myth. Instead they gave all the credit to her elder brother George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland the then Governor-General of India - for all his hard work and passion for single handedly opening and running the school at his private expense. The objective was not only to teach English language to the native Indian children but also to spread real education among them. Barrackpore Govt. High School is famous for its consistent academic track record spanning across past two centuries. The school has produced innumerable gems who served the nation in almost all walks of life and made Barrackpore proud. The school still continues to run from the old heritage building which is strikingly reminiscent of old christian church of British architecture.
The school has also been referred as Eden School, Vice-regal School, Viceroy’s Park School, Governor’s School, Barrackpore Government Park School in various old government archives, news papers and journals. Though the school is consistently referred as Barrackpore Government School or Barrackpore Government High School in the last ten/twelve decades in all the documents.
Contents
THE BEGINING:-
The school was set up primarily to teach English to the impoverished children of the local Bengali neighborhoods. The start was a mundane one with a handful of local boys. However the lord himself was so enthusiastic about the school that he used to distribute pens, books, papers for free amongst the enrolled pupils. Also he arranged for some stipend for the advanced students who are able to teach the beginners so that economically backward families feel more encouraged to send their children to the school. Caste discrimination had no place in Lord Auckland’s school where all the boys had to study together irrespective of their caste and creed which was very exceptional considering the time.
Lord Auckland hired eminent and costly teachers from Calcutta and across the Bengal in his private expense to give education of the finest quality. Among them the name of Rashik Lal Sen is worthy to mention who was also the first head master of the school. The school started at the south east corner of the erstwhile Barrackpore Park (now famous as Latbagan). His sister Emily Eden was also very much enthusiastic about her brother’s school. She writes ‘George’s new school has been open this last fortnight and some of the little native boys already read a fable in one syllable. It is astonishing how quick they are when they choose to learn.’ –Letter dated 26th march 1837, Barrackpore, 'Letters from India' By Emily Eden, Vol – 1, page -338 Edited by her niece Eleanor Eden, November 1871, Published by Richard Bentely & Sons, London, 1872.
There are enough evidences to believe that the school was established in the year of 1837. Although the exact start date remained a mystery for a long time. The school does not have any tradition to celebrate its birthday either. Recently few ex-students of the school have done a comprehensive research on the subject. Now it is ascertained that the school was setup in the later half of month March in the year 1837. Ex-student and researcher Mr Amitabha Karkun lately claimed that the start date was 18 March based on an old report published on a weekly newspaper ‘Janannesan’ of that time. The newspaper carries the news of the start of a new school by Lord Auckland and the report roughly claims – ‘on the sixth day of Bengali month Chaitra of Bengali year 1243 the school started with 30 students.’
FEW MYTHS ASSOCIATED WITH EMILY EDEN AND THE REALITY:-
It is fabled that Emily Eden was so fond of the little pupils of the school that she used to address them calling ‘My Little Barrackporeans’. Though no evidence has till been found to support this popular belief. Interestingly from her old letters it is found that she used to call people of Kolkata as the ‘Calcuttians’. Likewise she called all the people of Barracpore as ‘Barrackporeans’ in her personal writings. So it is unclear the ground of believing that she used to mean only the school students alone while using the term ‘Barrackporean.’ However there is no conclusive evidence from either side for believing or for not believing this myth. The school’s own magazine is named ‘Barrackporean’ inspired by this folklore.
TIME AFTER LORD AUCKLAND:-
The school continued to enjoy the vice-regal patronage till the end of colonial time. After the end of Lord Auckland’s tenure successive Governor Generals maintained the School. Among them Lady & Lord Canning were very enthusiastic about this school. Charlotte, Countess Canning gave highly favourable comments when she visited the school out of personal interest. After her sudden demise , Lord Canning gave a handsome donation from his personal purse for the expansion of the school building probably in memory of his loving wife who is still lying down on the bank of Ganges in Barrackpore.
The school had an interesting tradition where the high performer students of each class used to collect their prizes from the Governor himself in an elaborate annual ceremony organized inside the campus of Governor’s House under a large banyan tree. All the students accompanied by the student cubs and scouts used to march from the school to the Governor’s House along the road by the side of river Ganges. Usually the ceremonies were started with a short cultural programme organized by the pupils and was followed by Governor’s short motivational speech. The Governors used to come all the way to Barrackpore just to attend this annual prize distribution function. Even today few old students can still recollect from their living memory when they received their prizes from Lord Casey, Lord Brabourne, Sir John Herbert {John Herbert (Conservative politician)} etc. They also remember their experience of singing God Save The King at the end of this grand ceremony. The tradition continued till the end of the colonial era.
THE HERITAGE BUILDING AND THE SCHOOL CAMPUS :-
The oldest structure of the school is the centrally located church like building. The main architecture of the structure is almost unchanged with the exceptions of minor changes of design in top of each pinnacle. The building is still very much in use though no class is being taken here now. Here sits the Head Master of the school in his private spacious chamber. The administrative works are also being conducted from this building. This building also contains the mythical Hall Room of the school.
The building that spans along the left flank of the school is also a very old architecture. The right flank that spans along the BT Road is relatively new. The north-west side building is also new and it is named science building as all the laboratories of the school run from there. The building just beside that is again an old building. Probably it was used as a student hostel when it started. The recent addition of the school is the multistory building situated in the north-west corner of the campus. One can easily distinguish the difference between the architectures of different buildings as they were constructed at different period of time. The old buildings are much lavish in architecture and decorative in design. The newer ones are much plain and straight forward in structure probably due to the frugal budgetary sanctions of the post-independence governments.
CURRICULAM:-
In present time the school has classes 1 to 12. Students appear for 10+(Madhyamik) examination under West Bengal Board of Secondary Education and 12+(Higher Secondary Examination) examination under West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education. Class 11 and 12 have three streams- science, arts and commerce. The language of instruction is primarily Bengali. However for class 11-12, there is a sepa
