Hindu School, Kolkata

Hindu School is a state government-administered school in Kolkata (Calcutta), India. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest modern and multidisciplinary educational institution in Asia. Then it was known as Hindu College. In 1855 the 'Pathshala' part of Hindu College was renamed as Hindu School and the 'Mahapathshala' part became Presidency College, Kolkata.

History


With the establishment of the Supreme Court of Calcutta in 1773 many Hindus of Bengal showed eagerness to learn the English language. David Hare, in collaboration with Raja Radhakanta Deb had already taken steps to introduce English education in Bengal. Babu Baidyanath Mukhopadhya advanced the introduction of English as a medium of instruction further by enlisting the support of Sir Edward Hyde East, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Fort William who called a meeting of 'European and Hindu Gentlemen' in his house in May 1816. The purpose of the meeting was to "discuss the proposal to establish an institution for giving a liberal education to the children of the members of the Hindu Community". The proposal was received with unanimous approbation and a donation of over Rs. 100, 000 was promised for the setting up of the new college. Raja Ram Mohan Roy showed full sympathy for the scheme but chose not to come out in support of the proposal publicly for fear of "alarming the prejudices of his orthodox countrymen and thus marring the whole idea".

At first the classes were held in a house belonging to Gorachand Bysack of Garanhatta (later renamed 304, Chitpore Road), which was rented by the college. In January 1818 the college moved to 'Feringhi Kamal Bose's house' which was located nearby in Chitpore. From Chitpore, the college moved to Bowbazar and later to the building that now houses the Sanskrit College on College Street. In 1855 the 'Pathshala' part was renamed as Hindu School and the 'Mahapathshala' part became Presidency College, Kolkata.

Medium of education
Hindu School had been providing education primarily in Bengali medium until 2017, prior to its bi-centenary, when it has been decided to introduce English as the second medium of imparting education.

Library
The school library holds over 30,000 books with collection of journals and newspapers. Manuscript section holds 1226+ manuscripts.

Uniform
White Shirt with eton blue pants followed by black leather shoes and school badge (occasionally with identity cards).

Infrastructure
Six storied building with fifty general class rooms and separate laboratories for Computer Science, Statistics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography and Work Education. A dedicated auditorium named after school alumni Satyendra Nath Bose opened in 2010.

Notable alumni
For detailed list:

Short list:


 * Satyendranath Tagore.
 * Jyotirindranath Tagore.
 * Taraknath Palit
 * Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee
 * Satyendra Nath Bose
 * Chhabi Biswas
 * Nitin Bose
 * Birendranath Sircar
 * Meghnad Saha
 * Michael Modhusudan Dutt
 * Young Bengals
 * Prasanna Kumar Tagore
 * Rajendralal Mitra
 * Peary Chand Mitra
 * Dr. Pratap Chandra Chunder
 * Keshob Chandra Sen
 * Nisith Ranjan Ray
 * Rishi Rajnarayan Bosu
 * Anandamohan Bose
 * Kaliprasanna Singha
 * Kulada Charan Das Gupta
 * Digambar Mitra