The name Darjeeling is synonymous with quality education. Sonada up till the latter half of the 20th century had only two schools namely HOLY CROSS GIRLS which as the name suggests catered to the girl child only and was run by the missionaries. The other school was SHANTIRANI which was a co-educational school but the problem was it was situated at a distance of about 4km from the town. The need of the hour for the residents of Sonada was the establishment of a school within walking distance from the town which would cater to all sections of the society. The year was 1975, a group of visionaries got together and established a school which would serve the people of Sonada and they named the school “SONADA HIGH SCHOOL”. It was a very modest beginning as the school had nothing and everything had to be started from scratch. To start with a house was rented in a place called “kopibari” (present day Jhonson Hatta).The school was purely private at that time and had few teachers. Due to some reasons the school was shifted to Moonda Hatta and the school had their own building which in reality was a small wooden cottage. In the year 1980 the school got recognized by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education as a Junior High school and started receiving aid and benefits from the government.
The then Member of Parliament Sri Ananda Pathak, the members of the managing committee, the teaching staff and the educationally interested personals of Sonada locality had a great role to play in getting the school recognized as a Junior High. After the recognition of the school Late T.S. Gurung was appointed as administrator of the school. As the erstwhile location of the school was inadequate and small under the supervision of the administrator the school was shifted to its present location at upper Jhonson Hatta in the year 1987. After the school was shifted the managing committee was again re constituted and in the year 1994 the school was upgraded as High school with proper permission for co- educational and boasted a staff of 16 members. The school was further upgraded as a higher secondary school in the year 2011 with permission to start humanities. In the year 2019 the school got upgraded again and received permission to start science and commerce stream in the higher secondary level.
Today the school has progressed by leaps and bounds and caters to more than 700 students and boasts a staff strength of 36 teachers. The humble beginning is now shadowed by its new modern building with a fully equipped science laboratory, computer room, smart class’s which was constructed by the G.T.A. The school today has successfully catered to several generations of the residents of Sonada and remains one of the most valuable asset of Sonada and its people.
