History

Howrah Ramkrishnapur High School was established in the year 1862 as a Middle English School to inculcate progressive thoughts among the young generations of the then society through a modern education system. It is noteworthy to mention that the birth of this Institution was during the Bengal Renaissance and just after 1856 when the Widow Remarriage Act was passed by the British under advocacy and pursuance of Pundit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, one of the greatest reformers of all time. It was an era when the need for a modern education system was felt by the rational intelligentsia to fight against rampantly prevalent illiteracy, superstition, and oppression within the society on one hand and to invoke nationalist sentiments among the masses to fight against British Imperialism on the other. All these societal needs were perhaps the cause of sowing the seed for establishing educational institutions in general and of this Institution in particular. The land for constructing the school building was donated by the Bhattacharyas who were revered in the locality for their progressive thoughts about modern education system. Thus was born this Institution which has been the torchbearer in enlightening and spreading of knowledge and education since 1862.

During the Colonial reign, the Institution served as a seat of freedom movement of the locality and produced quite a few freedom fighters. The Institution has a glorious past as many of its exponents rendered diligent service to the nation and continues to do so. Over the years the Institution has produced several luminaries in almost all the fields of education. The Institution produced eminent personalities of yesteryears such as Shri Baroda Prasanna Pyne and Dr. Nripen Singha in the field of law and medicine respectively, to name a few. Shri Baroda Prasanna Pyne was the first in India to quit any Legislative Council when Gandhiji gave the call to boycott the ‘Three C’s, i.e., Court, College and Council, under the Non Cooperation movement.  Personalities such as Shri Rabindralal Singha, Hon’ble ex Education Minister of GoWB and Shri Arup Roy, Hon’ble M.I.C., Department of Co-operation, GoWB are also among the notable alumni of the Institution. Shri Rabindralal Singha was also the member and secretary of the Managing Committee of this Institution. Renowned writer Shri Shasthipada Chattopadhyay is also another luminous alumnus of this Institution.

In 1951, University of Calcutta, the then affiliating authority of educational institutions, recognized this Institution as a secondary school. In its journey since then, this school was gradually upgraded to a Higher Secondary School around 1957-58. Since 1974, the Institution has been functioning as a Secondary School. From 2013 onwards, the Institution has been granted the status of a Government Sponsored High School under West Bengal School Education Department with affiliation from West Bengal Board of Secondary Education.

Since inception, the Institution has witnessed many crests and troughs in its long journey, but on every such occasion it stood firm and steered out from those tumultuous waves of time to carry on its legacy of spreading knowledge and education far and wide and instilling in its pupil, values that develop a person into an empathetic, merciful and holistic individual rather than being a nerd on whom a society cannot bank on. This voyage is far from over and it will continue for many more years to come.