Midnapore Collegiate School, formerly Governmental Zilla School, established on 14 November 1834, is one of the oldest schools in Bengal as well as India. The students and teachers of this school made contributions to Indian Freedom Movement during the British Rule. Khudiram Bose, a martyr in the freedom struggle was one of the students of the school. Some other alumni of the institution are Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Sanjib Chandra Chattopadhyay, Manik Bandopadhyay, and Soumya Sankar Bose. Brahmo Samaj leader Rishi Rajnarayan Basu as headmasters had also contributed in building up the institution. It was formerly the Zilla School of Midnapore (currently Paschim Medinipur) in West Bengal.

Early history The school was established by people of Midnapore. With the economic help of Tezchandra Mehtab Raybahadur, the school had started its journey with a few thatched huts and 18 students. The first headmaster was Rasiklal Sen and after just two years, the school got the honour of Governmental Zilla School in 1836. When Calcutta University was established in 1857, the school came under its supervision.

During the time of British Headmasters Sir F. Tydd and Mr. Sinclare, their thought about teaching was,"the interrogative system of teaching should be carefully pursued during every step of the scholar's progress as the simplest and most effectual means of conveying knowledge." 'Sahityasamrat' of Bengal, Rishi Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and his elder brother Sanjib Chandra Chattopadhyay studied here.Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay studied here from 1845 to 1849.

Rajnarayan era Rajnarayan Bose, the socio-religious reformer and educationist took over the post of headmaster in 1851, and after 15 years retired in 1866. Another son of Medinipur, Sri Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar who was then the Principal of Sanskrit college, Kolkata, received the order of Council of Education that Rajnarayan Bose, Professor of English Department, would be appointed as the fourth Headmaster of Midnapore School. Rajnarayan Bose was already a stalwart figure in the field of Brahmo Samaj movement and have been a Young Bengal leader. He took over the post of headmaster on 21 January 1851. He was a revolutionary educationist of that time as he had ushered in a complete redress in the education system, i.e.,

He abolished corporal punishment and introduced a friendly and cooperative atmosphere among the teachers and students to make education more interesting to them. He hated the procedure of "committing to memory and vomiting to paper". He followed the rule of teaching through interaction of both students and teachers. His eloquent speeches with humorous jokes attracted all students in the class. He put stress on interrogative teaching, so that the fundamentals of the student becomes strong. He understood that the students also need physical exercise and sports so he made a lawn tennis court and a gymnasium in the school premises. He observed that students sitting on benches without back-support cannot keep their backs straight, so their attention span becomes shorter while studying. So he introduced seats with back-supports for the first time. Being an active leader of Young Bengal, he was moved by the 'Academic Association' of Henry Louis Vivian Derozio so he introduced Debate Associations and Mutual Improvement Association in school level.

Due to his ideas, the school was part of nationalist movements, widow-marriage, female education, Brahmo Samaj movements and many more socio-political activities. He was probably the first headmaster of any governmental school who had dared to inspire his students to join the freedom movement and even had hoisted the national flag on the school premises. He adorned the chair of Headmaster till 1866.

The age of nationalism The school in Midnapore was noted for nurturing the nationalist movement. Teachers like Hemchandra Kanungo, Ganendranath Basu, Pyarilal Ghosh, were noted for their nationalist teachings. Khudiram Bose, probably the youngest martyr hanged, was an alumnus of the school. He was recruited to the Anushilan Samiti by Hem Chandra Kanungo, a teacher of this school. His 'guru' in this field was Satyendranath Basu, an alumnus as well as a teacher of this school. He smilingly took the hangman's noose on 11 August 1908. A statue of him can be seen in the school's garden now.

Khudiram's political master, Satyendranath Basu was hanged in the same year on 23 November. Another alumnus, Anath bandhu Panja went to the gallows in 1933. Tyrant District Magistrate James Peddie was shot dead on 7 April 1931, inside the school by two freedom fighters, Shri Bimal Dasgupta and Jyoti Jibon Ghosh. One can still find this room in this school which had been reconstructed and inaugurated by the main suspect in the political-murder case, Bimal Dasgupta himself.

Succession list of Principals Name From To Rasiklal Sen 14.11.1834 31.12.1835 F. Tydd Jan. 1836 Jul. 1847 Mr. Sinclair Aug. 1847 Nov. 1850 Rajnarayan Basu 21.01.1851 06.03.1866 (on leave until 31.12.1868) Gangadhar Acharya 01.01.1869 28.04.1892 Shyama Charan Das May 1884 Jun. 1892 Hari Charan Roy 24.06.1892 20.04.1897 Abhay Charan Basu Jun. 1897 Apr. 1898 Upendra Nath Chandra 16.04.1898 08.02.1927 Hiralal Dasgupta 09.02.1927 31.01.1932 Narayan Kumar Mukherjee (OFFG) 01.11.1932 31.03.1933 Bholanath Swarnakar 01.04.1933 31.12.1935 Sasadhar Banerjee 02.01.1936 20.02.1947 Satish Ranjan Banerjee 01.07.1947 15.03.1951 sk sohel 16.03.1951 31.01.1963 Gostha Behari Pal (OFFG) 01.02.1963 30.07.1964 Bimala Prasanna Majumdar 31.07.1964 31.10.1966 Haripada Mondal 01.11.1966 11.09.1992 Anuttam Bhattacharya (A.H.M & T.I.C) 12.09.1992 30.09.1998 Ajoy Kumar Roy (T.I.C) 01.10.1998 30.04.1999 Shyamapada Das (A.H.M & T.I.C) 01.05.1999 04.01.2000 Suchand Kumar Pan 05.01.2000 31.07.2004 Arun Kumar Bag (T.I.C) 01.08.2004 15.09.2005 Dr. Dilip Kumar Das 16.09.2005 16.09.2015 Pintu Samanta 17.09.2015 31.08.2018 Mrs.Himani Parya 01.09.2018 -

Notable alumni Manik Bandopadhyay - Bengali novelist. Khudiram Bose - martyr of Indian freedom movement. Soumya Sankar Bose - Indian artist. Sir Abdur Rahim - Muslim League politician and Justice. Dr. Hassan Suhrawardy - first Muslim Vice-chancellor of Calcutta University. Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay - author of Vande Mataram Anath Bondhu Panja - revolutionary and martyred, member of the Bengal Volunteers

• Satyendranath Basu - Indian freedom fighter and member of Anushilan Samiti.

• Sanjib Chandra Chattopadhyay - Elder brother of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and author of Palamau,Jal Pratap Chandra etc.

Notes

on 05.09.2010 at Vigyan Bhavan ,New Delhi from the Hon'ble President of India,Smt. Pratibha Devi Singh Patil .

d. On the occasion of the centenary celebration of the school in 1938 Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan graced the event with his presence .

e. On 6 th May 2013 , during the ceremony of the 175 th year celebrations,Hon'ble President of India , Sri Pranab Mukherjee laid the foundation stone of the school auditorium . Present on the occasion were the Governor of West Bengal Shri M.K. Narayan and the Tourism Minister Dr. Sudarshan Ghosh Dastidar .

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