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Guru Griho

From Jhenidah
107-year-old Shailkupa High School

Azibor Rahman

Shailkupa English High School was established in 1893 with the patronage of Jadunath Saha, Kiron Chandra Shaha, Motilal Shaha, Monindra Lal Shaha and Sree Nath Shaha.

Ram Chandra Shaha turned his thatched roof school into a corrugated iron sheeted shade after some years of its foundation. Paresh Chandra Maya was the Founder Headmaster of the school and Goura Chandra Shaha was the Assistant Headmaster.

Due to problems between Headmaster and the Assistant Headmaster, there resulted a feud among the students. There was an act of arson in the school. Patit Paban and Gour Chandra Shaha fled. The school was rebuilt at Shailkupa town under Motilal Shaha. After a short while the inspector of the Presidency Department from Calcutta came to pay a short visit to this school. He was highly pleased and realized the necessity of such a school. It was then recognized by Calcutta University. The institution stood on 6.54 acres of land with a lot of buildings. Trees and a big playground on its beautiful campus gave this institution a good reputation among the schools of Jhenidah. It still has a very large campus compared to that of other schools in the country. Among the secondary schools, Shailkupa Pilot High stands supreme in a lot of things like the SSC Exam and the junior scholarship exam, scouting. There has hardly been a year when students from this school have not obtained great results in public exams under the Jessore board. These meritorious students have gone on to serve the nation in different ways. The school since its inception has produced many students who have become eminent scholars. Among its brightest alumni are poet Golam Mostafa, dramatist Rabindra Nath Maitra, Amulya Kumar Bhaumik, Chief Electrical Engineer of West Bengal, and dean Dr. Md. Moshihuzzaman of Dhaka University.

The school publishes its literary magazine once every 3 years. It helps the students to arouse their creativity and talent as well as widen their power of thinking. However this 107 year old school has not yet been nationalized. The many Headmasters the school has had throughout the years are as follows:

The first headmaster of the school late Khetro Mohon Gangulee from 1894 to 2890, other heads included Paresh Nath Mojumdar (1896-1963), Horen dra Nath Mukherjee (1936-1940), Promodo Bhushan Sanal (1940-1960), SNM Khorshed Jamal (1960-1961), MD. Abu Bakar (1962- 2007) and Khondakar MD. Hashmot Ali is presently the Headmaster.