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Guru Griho

From Sylhet

Durgapur High School Turns 94

Iqbal Siddiquee

Durgapur High School in Kanaighat upazilla has turned 94. Located in a remote area in north-eastern Sylhet, the school has long been playing a valuable role in providing education to thousands of students. Most of the students here belong to relatively under-privileged and middle class families.

Master Yousuf Ali, a renowned personality of the region, took the initiative of teaching the underprivileged during the British rule when he observed that the Muslim community of the area was falling behind in many respects compared to the Hindu community. He started teaching village children at his own house free of cost. Inspired by Yousuf Ali, one Zulekh Bibi extended her support with a donation of 16 decimals of land for setting up 'Madhya Banga Vidyalaya'. The school, offering up to sixth grade education initially, was housed in a tin-shed structure. It was later upgraded to a junior high school in 1961 and to a high school in 1973. Five students from the school sat in the SSC examinations for the first time in 1975.

The school now owns 1.8 acres of land by way of donations from locals. Standing on the Darbast-Kanaighat road, the century old school faces many problems today. It faces a chronic shortage of teachers and fixtures crisis. A teaching staff of only 7 teachers is responsible for teaching the school's 400 children.

Sukhomoy Das, Acting Headmaster of the school, said that due to the remote location of the institution, it is deprived of many facilities. But the school has a long and noteworthy history and has played an important role in promoting education in a region that was once considered educationally backward. "Accommodation is a major problem in the institution," he said, "We cannot arrange sufficient sitting arrangement for the students. The administration department constructed an academic building years ago, but we need to do more.” He further added that the posts of head teacher and that of the Science (Biology) teacher have been lying vacant for about 2 and half years. Even after repeated advertisements the position could not be filled.

"Affluent people should have a positive attitude towards the institution and, should help us in improving the standard of education", said Gias Ahmed, a social worker of the area. "Once the area had a number of important personalities, but nowadays the situation is not so good - with youngsters more interested in going abroad than anything else."