School still honouring Pakistani ex-premier

The LM – or Liaquat Memorial – Pilot Model High School in Keroa village, near the Raipur-Chandpur Road, was named after the first Pakistani premier in 1947. Over the following 69 years, the name has not been changed, despite protests from freedom fighters and other locals. School authorities, however, claim that the Liaquat mentioned in the school name is not the Pakistani ex-premier but the name of a local zamindar. According to locals, the school was originally set up in 1903. Mosammat Zebunnesa Chowdhurani, the wife of zamindar Munsi Mohammad Monohar Mia, established the school in her own house to bring literacy to the area. The school was then moved to different locations before Zebunnesa's son Emdad Ali Chowdhury brought to it to its current location in 1911 and renamed it as George Coronation High School – in honour of the then British king George V. Following Emdad's death, his son zamindar Gaznafar Ali Chowdhury in 1947 renamed school after the erstwhile Pakistani premier Liaquat Ali Khan. Over the years, the school grew in size and was declared a pilot school during former president Ziaur Rahman's rule in 1977; it was declared a model school in 2008 during the tenure of the previous caretaker government. Through all the changes, one thing remained constant – the name that honoured Liaquat Ali Khan. Nizam Uddin Pathan, who was a freedom fighter commander during the Liberation War, expressed his anger about the school's naming, pointing out that Liaquat Ali had played an anti-Bangali role during the Language Movement. Naming an educational institution after him in an independent Bangladesh cannot be acceptable at all, he said, adding that all local freedom fighters demand that the school's name be changed immediately. However, the school's governing body's president, Mohammad Shahjahan, claimed that the school was actually not named after the Pakistani leader, but in memory of a local zamindar named Liakat Ali who had donated the school's land. But Shahjahan's claim was disputed by upazila Awami League President Mamunur Rashid, who said the school was indeed named after the Pakistani politician. Saying Raipur never had any zamindar called Liakat Ali, Mamunur said it was zamindar Gaznafar Ali Chowdhury who donated the land for the school. Asked for clarification about the school's naming, Upazila Secondary Education Officer Kamal Hossain told the Dhaka Tribune that he was new to his post and did not know about the origin of the name.