Once, attending a summer workshop in Salisbury, Connecticut in the early 1980s, we were taken to visit a high school. The guide was enthusiastically showing us the school, one of the historical landmarks in the area. I was not impressed -- the school was established in the 1890s -- because I was educated in a high school that dates back to the 1870s.
My high school, Bagerhat High School, was established in 1878. The school left a lasting memory on my mind for its openness and cosmopolitan environment. My English teachers were Kali Prashad Chaterjee, better known to us as KPC, and Fani Babu, or Fani Sir.
Once, in a class, we were asked to write a letter to a friend in English. I drafted a letter addressing “Dear Milan,” an acquaintance of mine. While reading out my letter aloud, Fani Babu asked, “do you know where Milan is?” and before any one of us answered, he said, “it is a city in Italy.”
I attended Bagerhat High in the mid-1960s and passed my SSC in 1967, when our teachers were aware of Milan, an Italian city. My friend Amal and I would sometimes talk about our future ambition of working for the United Nations. I don’t remember how we became aware of the United Nations. It must have been the cosmopolitan environment of the school.
One of the disadvantages of attending the school was that the teachers would identify me not by my own worth but as the younger brother of Mahbub or Waliul, my two older siblings who studied ahead of me. The teacher would say, “your brothers were not as unmindful as you are.” As the academically weaker of the three, it was always a challenge to live up to the reputation of my older siblings.
For some other students, it was even worse. KPC would say, “your father was a polite student and always sat in the front -- why are you so naughty?” etc.
The teachers we had were stalwarts, larger than life, and we were mesmerized when KPC taught us “Oh Mary, go call the cattle home” -- he was lyrical. His composition and command over the English language were phenomenal. Once, KPC came to class in a state of excitement, saying, “Do you know, now we have a new headmaster who is so good in English that we do not need to check the dictionary in the office room. We just ask him.”
The new headmaster was a migrant, like my parents, from West Bengal, who was distantly related to us. He had a master’s in history from Calcutta University. I always thought that those who studied history had better facility with the English language.
A number of high schools in Bangladesh are over 100 and even 150 years old. Dhaka Collegiate School was established in 1835; it is the first government high school of undivided Bengal. Pogose School was founded in 1848 by Armenian merchant Nicholas Pogose -- it was Bengal's first private school.
Bagerhat High School, now known as Bagerhat Government High School, has a rich history dating back to 1878, when it was under the University of Calcutta (during British India). The 19th century showed a growing demand for formal education in the region, particularly among government officials and local communities.
Lest we forget, until the mid-nineteenth century, India was under the rule of the East India Company. Discussions of establishing universities in India began in 1845, but the discussion remained in abeyance. Charles Hay Cameron made a petition to the English Parliament for establishing universities in India in late 1852. Calcutta University was established in January 1857, and Bombay University in July 1857.
I visited the school in 1991. Mansur Sir kindly took me to the senior classes and asked me to say a few words. Sir introduced me by saying, “this old student of our school now teaches at the National University of Singapore.” And he emphasized that “he teaches in English.”
After seeing the impact of my pep talk, some of the female teachers insisted that I also speak to the senior students in the girls’ section, in the building across from the main building. I told them the story of Shireen, a dear friend from the Pittsburgh days, who came to Bagerhat to sit for the SSC exam as there were no centers for the SSC exam in Kachua in 1968. Shireen, with a PhD in chemistry, had a successful career in corporations and academia that included a stint at Lucent Technologies. I told the young girls that no one can stop you if you aim high.
I was then ushered into the headmaster’s office, who received me with courtesy and asked me if I could meet the Deputy Commissioner and request more money for the school. I found the demand odd but recused myself by saying the DC sahib must be too busy to give me an appointment on short notice.
The headmaster then said something that startled me. He said, “of the countries doing well in the Middle East, Singapore is the best.”
Singapore in the Middle East? My mind wandered back to KPC, Fani Babu, Mansur Sir -- teachers of my time.
Habibul Haque Khondker is a sociologist and columnist.