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     Volume 1 Issue 2 | July 22, 2006 |



  
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Guru Griho

From Patuakhali
Jubilee High School 120 Years of Success

Md. Sohrab Hossain

It was the year 1887. Queen Victoria of Great Britain was celebrating the golden jubilee of her reign in that year.

The Government Jubilee High School was set up at the launch ghat area in the Patuakhali district town the same year. Some local elite who wanted to spread the light of education among its people set up the school in a very humble manner at a simple house made of palm leaves. It was the time when this part of the world known as the Indo-Pak Subcontinent was a colony of the British Empire. It was originally named “Jubilee English High School” as it was established in the year of the golden jubilee festival of the British kingdom. Today the school is one of the oldest educational institutes not only in the district but in the whole country.

The founder headmaster of the school was Rash Ranjan Pal. In 1912 the old school house was shifted to the present place which stands on a five acres land. The land was donated by Shyama Charan Simla, a dedicated social worker. The name of the school was also changed to “Jubilee High School”. Nabochandro Banarjee, a former student of the school later joined the school as its headmaster in 1921 and worked there for thirty-three years. On November 15, 1968 the school was nationalised by the then government.

The school from the beginning has been achieving good results in the public examinations. Many of its former students had either worked or are still working in respectable and high positions at home and abroad. Among them, to mention only a few, are Justice AK Badrul Huque, justice in the Dhaka High Court, Mr. Khandaker Khaleq, a poet, Professor Md. Golam Rahman of Eden Girls' College, Dr. Md. Ali Asgar, ex-Dean of the Commerce faculty of Rajshahi University, Mr. Dhiraj Malakar, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Industry, Dr. Debi Proshad Chattopaddhay, former Commerce Minister of India, Professor Dr. Mir Masum Ali. Professor of a State University in the U.S, Colonel Dr. SK Basu, ex- consultant of Army in India, Mr. Barendra Bhushan Nandi, ex-Deputy Magistrate of the West Bengal government and AKM Jahangir Hossain, MP, former State Minister for Textile.

Till now Jubilee High School has been scoring the best results in the public examination every year. In 1998, Ranjan Kumar Mitra, a student of this school secured the first place in the Commerce group under Jessore Education Board. The year after that, Giku Mandal, another student of this school stood second in the same group in the S.S.C exam. held under the same education board. Jubilee High School for was selected as the best boys' high school for its commendable contribution to the overall educational activities at the national level. Mr. Mujibur Rahman, an assistant teacher of the school was honoured as the best class teacher in 2000. Nineteen students from this school received junior scholarships of the board this year. Moreover, in 1997 two students and in 2003 four students from the school received the President’s Scout award for best performance in scouting.

The school at present is facing some problems which are not insurmountable, but which need to be addressed immediately. One of the problems is the shortage of teachers. Twenty-one out of fifty-three posts including that of the headmaster are lying vacant for a long time. All the four posts of clerks are also lying vacant. Mr. Siddiqur Rahman, the assistant headmaster of the school has been functioning as the acting headmaster for the last one year. These problems in many direct and indirect ways have some negative impacts on the smooth running of the academic as well as administrative functions of the school.

Mr. Siddiqur Rahman, the acting headmaster at present says, “Jubilee High School has a very long tradition of success and we try to continue to uphold that reputation with our earnest efforts. 85% of the examinees passed in the SSC exam. this year. Twenty-two students got GPA +5. We have written several letters to the higher authority concerned about the problems . We hope these will be taken care of soon.”

 

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