# Balurghat High School

Balurghat High School is a higher secondary school for boys & for girls(for class 11 & 12 only) situated at the Ward no. 11 of Balurghat Municipality in Dakshin Dinajpur of West Bengal. Balurghat High School was established in 1907 and it is one of the oldest schools in India.

## History

During the British Raj, the zamindar of Shankarpur, shri Gouri Pal had founded the "গৌরী পালের পাঠশালা" (The School of Gouri Pal) at the Pal-Bari Durga Mandir in 1877. Later, due to increase in the interest in education and the spread of English language in India, he shifted the campus to today's location and named it Balurghat Free Primary English School. After that, due to increase of population and demand in education the name was changed to Balurghat Middle English School. In 1903, the campus was completely destroyed for a mysterious fire. Later the school again re established by the help of Shri Gouri Pal on 15th March, 1907. From that day, it is known as Balurghat High School. The first headmaster of the school was Shri Rameshwar Chakraborty.
The school was affiliated with the University of Calcutta in 1910 along with the Raiganj Coronation High School in Raiganj. At that time this district and Uttar Dinajpur was united and known as West Dinajpur district. After Independence of India in 1947 the town and the district was in consideration that which side that is India and Pakistan would choose. On the 14th August, the Pakistan Army & leaders of the Muslim league raised the Pakistani flag on the premises of the school, further exacerbating tensions. The Indian Army & Gorkha regiments (India)’s attempt to seize control of Balurghat High School was met with stiff resistance from the Baloch Regiment, resulting in violent clashes. Similar skirmishes erupted in Hili, Dakshin Dinajpur. Despite the presence of Pakistani troops patrolling the streets, local freedom fighters mounted a formidable resistance.
The pivotal moment arrived on the morning of the 18 August, when the Down North Bengal Express delivered Indian National Congress leaders Saroj Ranjan Chattopadhyay, Maharaj Bose, Shailen Das, and others to Balurghat. They brought with them the news that Balurghat had been officially incorporated into India, and on that day, the Indian flag was raised at the administrative building and the school premises with singing the Indian National Anthem. Later that day, a grand rally was held, with crowds gathering at the Balurghat High School grounds to celebrate this historic moment. To this day, the citizens of Balurghat proudly commemorate the 18 August, assembling at the High School grounds to honour the town's remarkable and hard-won journey to freedom.

## Curriculum

The school has an autonomous primary school which administered the class 1–4. The High School part consist of classes 5–12 which is affiliated to WBBSE & WBCHSE. The fundamental curriculum is same upto class 10. After the Madhyamik Examination, students are got selected upon merit based score of their Madhyamik result into three different streams i,e Science, Arts and Commerce. From 2024 onwards, due to emergence of new AI technologies, courses like Data Science and Artificial Intelligence have been started to teach to educate and promote awareness of the use of AI and Machine Learning.

## Campus

The school consist of a three blocks: primary, secondary, and higher secondary. Each block have their own playground. The school have her separate 2 playgrounds in the town and both are used for the school's educational program and Public activity purposes. The Higher Secondary block have their own laboratories for physics, chemistry, biology, computer science and geography. The school library consist of 5000 volumes of books which is open to all class students and staffs for reading and research purposes. Upon the mandatory order of the Government of West Bengal, the school also provide healthy Mid-day Meal for the students and staffs since 2011.From 2023 onwards, the school became semi-co-educational school as the school authority is now accepting Girls students from class 11 for the Higher Secondary Examination only. This actually lead the environment of the school to modernization.

## National Cadet Corps

The school has a NCC unit. Every year during republic day, the school participate in the annual parade in Balurghat Stadium along with WBP, Balurghat College and other school's in the town. Also the marching day happens every year on the day of independence. Thousands of crowd gather around to watch the state of the art march on very day.

## Extra curricular activities

Every year, the school host an annual sport event. The teachers also encourage the students to participate in various sports activities like cricket, football, badminton, athletics, and others. Every year, on the day of Teacher's Day, a special football match is hosted between the teachers and the students. Another very special football match is hosted every year between the two schools of the town which is Balurghat High School and her rival counterpart i,e Balurghat Lalit Mohan Adarsha Uchchya Vidyalaya. Also the students take deep interest in Dancing, Singing, Painting and other various activities for maintaining a healthy mind along with heavy studies.

## Achivements

The school has created many many great results in Madhyamik Examination and Higher Secondary Examination. The students have also clear the India's most toughest exams like JEE Main, WBJEE and NEET-UG to get into reputed colleges like IIT, NIT, AIIMS for the professional undergraduate courses.

## Notable alumni

* Susil Ranjan Chattopadhyay, former MP
* Sankar Chakraborty, former MLA
* Abhijit Mondal, Footballer.