Sri Paritosh De

Uttarpara Govt. High School began its historic journey way back in 1846 as the only English School in the neighbourhood of Uttarpara under the auspices of Babu Joy Krishna Mukherjee and the local villagers. It’s, indeed, a School by the masses, of the masses, for the masses. Since its early days, it has kept on producing a galaxy of doctors, engineers, scientists, academicians, sportsmen and artists. Yes, we can boast of an alumni who are spread across the globe and have made great achievements in their personal sphere of work and made us proud. Now, it’s a Bengali-medium School but it’s pretty amazing that it thrives with excellence even to this day when we have to continuously stand in neck-and-neck competition with the emerging English-medium schools. The fear of the English poet, Goldsmith when he says, “…the very spot where many a time he (the village schoolmaster) triumphed is forgot” seems quite relevant for us at times. Still we manage to put our feet above water with dedication, hard work and a great passion for imparting value education and creating holistic growth among our students.

All of us who are associated with this temple of education in different capacities are united by the altruistic doctrine of humanism. As the helmsman of this Alma Mater, I feel myself blessed since all teaching and non-teaching and technical staff here are marked by their sincerity, readiness and loyalty to any work provided. Students are consecrated with the principles of discipline and obedience. A teacher is successful only when his students outshine him. So, every year when our students perform excellently well in Madhyamik, Higher Secondary and JEE, it fills my heart with joy unspeakable. I always remember Albert Einstein’s pedagogical theory that a teacher should not teach but provide conditions for students to learn. I motivate the teachers to strive to do so. Teachers here always inspire students towards co-curricular activities alongside classroom learning.

Our school precincts are clean and tidy.  The school runs a successful midday meal programme. Plantation programmes are undertaken every year. Independence Day, Teachers’ Day and annual sports day are celebrated with sanctity. Students are encouraged for cultural activities like debate, music, dance, drama, extempore, recitation etc. on regular basis. Science and fine arts exhibitions as well as literary seminars are organised each year during Saraswati puja. Educational tours are conducted biennially.

There are adequate classrooms, well-equipped science laboratories, benches and computers. Here is sufficient drinking water facility now. We also conduct health and IT classes to teach first-aid treatment and basic software skills. Still the school needs some infrastructural reforms. For instance, there is a growing demand for library facility, smart classrooms, language lab, a roofed stage on the playground, gymnasium and a jumbo generator.

Our teachers maintain a very friendly relationship with students. They take due care for management of students’ emotional crisis by teaching them how to accept failures since failures are inevitable to the road of success. I wish to tell my beloved students that failure is nothing but learning another way that doesn’t work and the only mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.

As a teacher above all, I have always believed in the truth of the maxim, “in learning, you’ll teach and in teaching, you’ll learn.” So, we try to learn from our professional mistakes and become more and more responsible to serve better.

I wish the family of Uttarpara Govt. High School a glorious future ahead.

Sincerely,

Paritosh De