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Guru Griho

From Magura
Magura Government High School: 152 years of glory

Shafikul Islam

A school named 'Minor School' was established at Shibrampur village about 152 years ago. Over time it turned out to be the lone Government High School of Magura district, subsequently playing a key role in spreading the light of education in the entire area. The foundation stone of the 'Minor School' was laid in 1854 by some local educationists of Shibrampur village. To make the people's dream of upgrading the school into a High School come true, the first Headmaster of the school Jogendranath Sinha shifted it to the then sub-divisional Head Quarter. As there was no building or room of its own, students were taught in classrooms of a thatched-house near the Sub-Divisional Officer's bungalow. The school was upgraded to a high school at a later time and was named 'Magura Model High School'.

Here is a sad tale of the school. The functioning of the school was almost disrupted when the thatched house of the school was burnt to ashes in 1876 from a fire that originated in a house nearby. However, it was fortunate for Magura people that the Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) who was posted in Magura at that time was an educationist, too. Within a very short time, by the cordial efforts of the SDO Kali Proshonno Singh, the school started functioning again in full swing at a building (The present Women's College building) nearby, and from there the success story of the school began.

With glorious performance in academic exams, the school also achieved the glory of emerging as the runner up and the champion in the then East Pakistan inter-school football tournaments in 1960 and 1961 respectively. The students of the school also earned reputation in scouting, debating and cultural competitions. The school's National Cadet Core team secured the first position in the Sundarbon Regional Competition of March past.

In August of 1981, the school started its functions in its own building at Bhaina area adjacent to the Magura-Jhenidah highway. Earlier in February 1, 1970, the school was nationalised.

The school, from the beginning, has been achieving good results in the public examinations. Many of its former students have played important roles in nation building in various ways. Among them, to mention only a few, are late Barrister Bomkesh Chakrabarti, one of the eminent Bar-at-Laws of the then Indo-Bangla; late Kali Proshonno Roy, the first Bangladeshi editor of 'The Herald Tribune' published from Lahore; late Probodh Chakrabarti, the former Vice-Chancellor of Biswabharati University; late Chandro Shekhor Kar, a former District Magistrate of India; late Md. Serajul Islam B.A.B.T (1st class first, Gold Medalist), the former Headmaster of this school; late advocate Sohrab Hossain, former Minister of the People's Republic of Bangladesh; Major General (Rtd.) M Majid-ul-Huq, former Establishment Minister of Bangladesh; Doctor Lutfor Rahman, an eminent literateur of Bengali literature; Professor Dr. MS Akbar, the lawmaker of Magura constituency; Syed Nazmul Hossain Lovon, former football player of Bangladesh national team and late Abdus Salek M.S.C (Ag) Ph.D, an eminent agricultural researcher.

The school has been scoring the best result in public exams in the district every year. Nine candidates secured the golden GPA-5, while twenty-two got GPA-5 in last year's Secondary School Certificate examination (SSC).

A.T.M Omar Faruq, presently the Headmaster in-Charge, said that the school is facing some problems which need to be resolved for continuing its glorious achievements in public examinations and other spheres of academic activities. According to Head Master the main problem is the shortage of teachers. He also mentioned the trend of exerting political influence on school administration in admitting students in different classes and sought intervention of influential local people in this matter.

Headmaster Omar Faruq said, “Magura Govt High School has a long tradition of success and we're determined to do everything to overcome the problems that from time to time tend to threaten its progress. We hope to continue to uphold the reputation it has earned over the long hundred and fifty-two years.”