Hare School
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A front view of the school's main building at June 2006 |
Hare School is the oldest existing school in
Kolkata, and one of the best schools in
India, currently teaching grades 1 to 12 under the
West Bengal Board of Secondary Education and the
West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education. The boys-only school was established by the Scottish watch-maker
David Hare with the help of legendary social reformer
Ram Mohan Roy. The actual establishment date is difficult to ascertain and not universally agreed upon, but the official year is
1818. The school is an important landmark in the history of western education in India under the
British raj. It is currently situated opposite the
Presidency College, Kolkata, College Square and
Hindu School, Kolkata and next to the
Calcutta University.
After establishing the Kolkata Schoolbook Society and the
Hindu College, Kolkata (now Presidency College) in
1817 and the Kolkata School Society in
1818, David Hare established the school exactly opposite Hindu College in the heart of
College Street (Kolkata). After having been called Arpuli Pathshala and Kalutola Branch School, it came to be known as Hare School in 1867.
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Main playground of the school |
The combined campus of the Hare School and Presidency College is one of the largest in Kolkata. The ownership of the campus is a contentious issue, leading to frequent conflicts about which parts of the ground the students can access, whether they can play in the College's field and whether they can use the gates of the college. This situation was escalated some time ago after a widely-publicised incident of eve-teasing in the college campus,
[The Telegraph Report] though restrictions have again been brought down to a normal level.
The white school building is of Victorian architecture, having rooms with very high ceilings, very high doors and no windows. A third floor was later constructed on top of the original two story building that maintains the architectural style. More recently another adjacent, smaller building has been constructed in a modern architectural style, much to the displeasure of the students. Initially the school had two very large playgrounds, but later the larger of these was given to Presidency College, though it continues to be used casually by students of the school.
As of March 2006, a total of around 1000 students currently study in the school. Each of the classes from 1 to 10 are divided into two sections A and B, each of which contain around 40 students. Class 11 and 12 are divided into three 'streams' known as Science, Arts (
Humanities) and Commerce. Current notable students include
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Arijit Saha (XI) - Bengal champion in Badminton
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Upamannu Maitra (VIII) - Given numerous honours and awards from
NASA*
Soham Karmakar (XI) - came eighth at the
Madhyamik examination 2006
As of March 2006 around 35 teachers are teaching in the school. Teachers with a doctorate are
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Dilip Kumar Deb (
Biology)
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Tarapada Santra (
Geography)
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Sushanta Charkrabarti (
Chemistry)
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Biswarup Ghatak (
Philosophy)
All current teachers except the three teachers of Computer are permanent, the computer teachers being under contract. Past notable teachers include
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Rasik Lal Mallik*
Pyari Charan Sarkar*
Shibnath Shastri |
2006 Saraswati Puja at Hare School |
Every year, an extensive
football tournament is held during the summer. Intra-section competitions as well as inter-section and inter-class ones ensure that almost every willing student gets a chance to play at the official tournament. During the winter, a cricket tournament of somewhat smaller scope is also held. The annual sports competition is held in two stages, a Heat followed by the Finals. The various events include running of several lengths and One-Legged Race. Apart from such official chances, the students utilise every type of space including classrooms, corridors, grounds etc to engage in sports (mostly football with some
cricket and
table tennis) during the recess (commonly called the tiffin period) which lasts for 20 minutes from Monday to Thursday and for an hour on Fridays. There is no recess on Saturday (it's a half-day), while on Sunday the school is closed is closed.
The annual prize distribution ceremony sees one or more plays enacted by the students as well as other cultural programs held at the nearby Derozio Hall. During the year other smaller cultural programs take place in the school at various occasions, mainly featuring
Rabindra sangeets.
The school is known for its participation in various quiz contests. It has won among others the Seventh Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Calcutta Foundation Better Calcutta Contest 2005 Science Quiz and Acharya Satyendranath Basu Smarak Biggyan O Prajukti Mela 2004.
The largest festival is the
Saraswati Puja, which is organised by the students of the school. A science exhibition usually accompanies the two-day festival. During the meeting of the executive council before the puja, decisions regarding budgets and donations are taken by the teachers with input from a body of class representatives. The visits from girls of other schools wearing
saris cause the students to look forward to this day with eager anticipation. There is a controversy over whether the school should celebrate a basically religious festival like Saraswati Puja as it is under a constitutionally secular government, however students have mostly tended to support holding the puja. As with most major religious festivals of Bengal, the puja can be said to transcend religious boundaries and become an almost secular signature of Bengali culture as a whole.
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A statue of David Hare at the school |
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Ramtanu Lahiri - noted researcher on Bengali Language, member of Young Bengal Association.
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Dinbandhu Mitra - famous Bengali writer of British India, works include
Nil Darpan*
Jagdish Chandra Bose -
polymath, physicist, plant physiologist,
inventor of Radio and discoverer of life of plants
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Akshay Kumar Baral - poet
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Prafulla Chandra Roy - pioneer
chemist, founder of Bengal Chemicals
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Jatindramohan Sengupta - politician, freedom fighter
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Pramathesh Barua - actor
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Pyari Charan Sarkar- writer
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Radhanath Sikdar - eminent mathematician, first ever person to calculate height of
Mount Everest*
Charuchandra Chakrabarti - writer
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Zia-ur-Rahman - President of Bangladesh 1977-1980
The uniform of the school is a white shirt with black shorts or trousers, white socks and black shoes. Physical education days require a white trouser and white cades instead and in winter black sweaters are allowed. There is also a school badge that should be pinned to the shirt.
Hare School
87, College Street
Kolkata-700073
West Bengal, India
Phone: 91-033-22413868
