History

The beginning of an era

The post-independence period saw a surge in interest among families to educate their girl children. People were gradually realising the need to see their daughters in the same light as their sons and thus treat them as their equals. Berachampa is a quaint little place in the district of North 24 Parganas, in West Bengal where there was no school exclusively for girls. Those few ones who felt the urge to pursue education had to travel a long way to Dhanyakuria which is more than eight kilometers away by road.

 It was during this time that a few dignitaries of the area met and decided to do something for the future of their girls. Most notable among them were Akshay Kumar Mondal, Satyen Kumar Roy, Sudin Kumar Bandopadhyay, Dulal Chandra Nandy, Dilip Kumar Maite, Dr. Gopal Chandra Ghosh, the then well-known teacher Kshitish Chakraborty, Kamal Krishna Mondal and Shashanka Bhusan Bandopadhyay. Finally their earnestness and dedication bore fruit and Binapani Balika Vidyalaya came into being in 1955, albeit with only eight students. Even then, these girls had to be coaxed to come out of their homes for studying as most of the people were still apprehensive about the outcome. The respected Mr. Akshay Kumar Mondal and his two sons, Santosh Kumar Mondal and Sachindranath Mondal donated the land for this noble cause. However, in absence of any building or room these girls had to go to Berachampa Deulia Uchcha Vidyalaya to attend classes. The head of this institution at that time, Mr. Sudin Kumar Bandopadhyay, generously allowed the girls to avail the morning session of the school and even acted as the head of Binapani Balika Vidyalaya for the time being. First, the school got affiliation for classes V and VI only and then later on up to class VIII and came to be recognized as a Junior School.

Finally, the institution took shape in the form of temporary rooms with cane or bamboo walls and thatched roofs of leaves. In spite of a humble start, it continued its progress and on 1st January 1963, the school got recognition as a Madhyamik institution under the affiliation of WBBSE. Smt. Binapani Balbakshi became the first ever Headmistress of this academic institution. A Managing Committee was formed which, along with the help of the local people, built two permanent concrete rooms in 1979. Meanwhile the strength of students was increasing as more and more parents felt the need to secure their daughters’ future. In 2011, the school was upgraded as a Higher Secondary institution. At present, Binapani Balika Vidyalaya (H.S.) boasts of a four-storied building in a sprawling campus and more than seventeen hundred students.