::: Star Insight :::

Guru Griho
From Jhenidah

Kola United Secondary School turns 49 in Jhenidah

A renowned school in the area, Kola United Secondary School has its own success stories Mingled with those of struggle and a persisting need to fulfil shortcomings.

Azibor Rahman

The Kola United Secondary School in Jhenidah is one of the reputed schools in the region. The school is at a distance of 12 kilometers from the Kaliganj upazilla headquarters and 29 kilometers from the district town. It has a large number of students, half of whom are female.

The UP Chairman Jamal Uddin Mollah established the school in 1961. It was constructed on an area which is abundantly green and measures three acres and twenty-six decimals. Immediately after it was founded, it was recognized as a high school. Since then, the quality of education at the school has improved and so, resultantly, has its reputation.

Currently, there are 1,012 students studying at this school. It is sad that commerce and business studies are not offered to the students here due to shortage of teachers. There are other problems as well. Due to inadequate number of classrooms, sometimes, classes are not held. As there is no common room, female students sit in the balcony. There are currently four buildings including a building with a tin roof, which is not suitable for holding classes in. The teachers' room is in a dilapidated state. The plaster on the walls is wearing off to the point where even the construction rods have become visible at some places, and the ceiling has become damp.

The student-teacher ratio is really low. “To meet the needs of the school, more teachers are needed to continue proper education,” said senior teacher Jibon Krishna Shah. With the number of students increasing every day, the number of sections needs to increase. Additional rooms are required in order to hold more classes of new sections.

Currently, there are only two groups of subjects on offer: science and humanities. There is an immediate need to establish a commerce group, since without the three fundamental academic wings, the institution remains incomplete and students are deprived of subject options. The school was declared as the best school of Jhenidah district and athletes from this school have won divisional competitions.

Some of the well-known alumni of this school are Anwarul Islam, Planning Officer - Jahangirnagar University

Moktar Hossain, Department Head, Marketing - Dhaka University

Dr. Abdul Goni, Department Head, Sociology - Shahjalal University of Science and Technology

Md Shariful Islam, Director of the Commercial Audit Department

Engineer Md Lutfor Rahman, Samabay Official - Khulna Division etc.

The first headmaster of the school was Habibur Rahman and the current headmaster is Md. Shawkat Ali. Other heads over the last five decades were: Abul basher Mollah, Babu Sunil Ranjan Biswas, Abdus Samad Mia, Badar Uddin Ahmed, Anwarul Islam, Kawsar Ali, Jagadish Biswas and Abdul Wahab Joarder.

The present headmaster of the school told Star Insight that although the school has a good reputation, it faces various constraints. If the authority takes up the initiative to improve the conditions of this institute by constructing more buildings and appointing teachers, it will be an even better school and will be able to contribute more effectively to educating the children of Jhenidah.