History

Arya Kanya Mahavidyalaya, which truly initiated the dawn of 20th century in 1902, has by now completed a glorious journey of  118 years, celebrated it’s centenary in 2002 graced by the presence of the then Chief Minister Shri Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and other dignitaries. Many more years have passed since then, the institution has been a witness to many events in the history of Kolkata and has been a part of it. It has maintained it’s glorious presence for a dozen decades and is still evolving.

Swami Dayanand Saraswati established the Arya Samaj in Calcutta in 1885, to do away with the backwardness in the society and lead Bengal towards a brighter future. He recognized that women, who thus far formed the backbone of households, could come forward to lay a strong foundation of the progressive society of his dreams, if educated. Arya Kanya Mahavidyalaya thus came to be established in 1902 at Naitollah in central Kolkata, a pioneer of institutions for women’s education. The current premises were thereafter constructed in 1907 at 20, Bidhan Sarani with donations from eminent persons. Gradually Arya Mahila Siksha Mandal Trust was formed in 1935 which looks after the affairs of the Vidyalaya. Keeping in mind the demography of the locality, medium of instruction was bilingual, Hindi and Bengali. The institution got recognized by Calcutta University as a high school in 1948 and in 1957 by the West Bengal Board Of Secondary Education as a Higher Secondary institution for Humanities Department. The Science Department was started in 1962. Later on, in 1976 the 12 curriculum was recognized by West Bengal council of Higher Secondary education in Science, Commerce and Humanities field