Century-old Nadia school with major contribution in Bangladesh Freedom Movement – GetBengal story

Shikarpur village and Shikarpur Uchcha (Uchchatara Madhyamik) Vidyalaya are like Siamese twins and share their common birth and history. Before the Partition, Shikarpur village was part of Meherpur sub-division in Kushitya district (now in Bangladesh). Like many other little-known places, Shikarpur too, has an ancient tradition of both written and oral history.  According to folklore, once upon a time this area was a dense forest infested with wild animals. A favourite with hunters (‘shikar’) for an abundance of gaming animals, the jungle came to be known as Shikarpur.

Nature’s bounty overflows in this small hamlet and verdant greens surround the village throughout the year. The weather is pleasant and the cool, calm atmosphere offers an effective healing process for both the body and the soul. Mathabhanga River, a tributary of Padma flows through the area demarking Bangladesh and Nadia district. Around 1815, British indigo planters cleared the jungles and set up human habitation on the banks of Mathabhanga River. Gradually, the place came to be known as Shikarpur. Mathabhanga-Jalangi-Bhairav-Garai rivers all flow close to the village and its land is blessed with rich fertile alluvial soil. The British found this place perfect for indigo cultivation and from 1830, large scale commercial cultivation of indigo started.

Initially, this area was owned by the legendary zamindar, Queen Bhavani, but later, Shikarpur became the headquarters of the northern zone of indigo planters. There were 152 indigo Kuthis (offices) under Shikarpur. During the 19th century, Mathanhanga River was the connecting river between Calcutta and East Bengal. Seamless connectivity was a prime reason for setting up the indigo planters’ headquarters here.  It is well neigh impossible to imagine what a prosperous area Shikarpur was during its heyday before Independence. A miniscule evidence of the riches can be traced to the school’s grand wooden doors and windows that stand as a testimony of its rich heritage. The British planters had built sprawling stable, mechanized launches, speed boats, four wheelers, an army of private soldiers, clerks, typists, managers et al. They had dug a fantastic swimming pool, a lake for boating, well-laid gardens, street-lamps, bakery, beautifully done palatial Kuthi (office) and the hunter. Now the only edifice that still stands erect is the Protestant Church with its melodious bell that chimes from time to time. The school library has a rare collection of very expensive imported books donated by the British when they left.

Locals of this area had actively participated in the indigo revolution. The Indigo revolt (or Nil bidroha) was a peasant movement and subsequent uprising of indigo farmers against indigo planters that arose in Chaugacha village of Nadia in Bengal in 1859. Renowned freedom fighter, Jatindranath Mukhopadhyay aka Bagha Jatin organized the district’s first dacoity bid in Shikarpur. In 1922, Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Dash sent his follower Brahmachari Someshwar Chowdhury to Shikarpur to hammer the last nail on the coffin of indigo exploiters. Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose had been to this village to organize meetings and form the body for fighting against the British imperialists. A large number of freedom fighters, including Harendranath Bhattacharya, Sukhomoy Chowdhury, Jagannath Talapatra, Sudhangshu Bagchi, Maulavi Abul Samad, Naimuddin and many others hail from this village and studied in the local school.

According to available documents, this school was first set up at the other end of Mathabhanga river, on the periphery of Kushthiya district well before 1876 and operated from a mud house. However, due to frequent flooding in the locality, the school building’s condition became precarious.  At that time, the honcho  of indigo plantation business at Shikarpur, M.M. Crawford along with a group of bright educated enthusiastic Bengalis including Sudhamoy Sanyal, Bijoykrishna Biswas, Sariyatullah Bisws, Gourikanta Baghi, Chandramoy Sanyal and Lakshmipati Chowdhury decided to set up an English medium school to prepare students to appear for the Entrance examination. Shikarpur H.E. Vidhyalaya was formally inaugurated in 1876 with M.M. Crawford as the first president of the school. Baboo Jahnavicharan Bhowmik was the first headmaster of the school. There were about 75 students who joined the institution in its inaugural year. The school building was not ready yet and classes used to be held in a large room in a bungalow. Bhowmik officiated as the headmaster of the school from 1901 to 1905, when he left Shikarpur after he was promoted and got transferred elsewhere. The foundation stone of the school building was laid during his tenure.

Babu Surendra Mohan Maitra succeeded Bhowmik as the Principal of the school. He was a brilliant administrator and educator. During his 34-year-long tenure from 1905 to 1939 he was instrumental in lifting the standard of education to very high levels. He imposed strict discipline, camaraderie among students, sensitized the young minds to duties and social responsibilities and streamlined the administration. By 1907, the school building came up on seven acres of land donated by the Midnapore Zamindar Company. This solved the building problem to a large extent. Many new wings were added to the main building after Independence. There were two hostels for students, one for Hindus and the other for Muslims. After Independence, a girls’ hostel was also constructed. On January 3, 1939, Babu Satyacharan Bagchi joined as the Principal. He retired in 1945. Babu Abani Mohan Sarkar from Calcutta replaced him as the new head. He worked till August 19, 1947, as the Principal of the institution.