Pogose School


Pogose Laboratory School and College, IER, Jagannath University was established in Dhaka on June 12 1848, as the first private school of the country by Armenian merchant Nicholas Pogose, who was an ex-student of Dhaka Collegiate School. It is located at Chittaranjan Avenue. The school was managed as a proprietary institution and in 1871, about a year after the death of Pogose, it was taken over by Mohini Mohan Das, a banker and zamindar. After the death of Das in 1896 his estate kept the school open.

History

According to historian Muntasir Mamun, Pogose Laboratory School and College, IER, Jagannath University started in 1848. It was also found that the school may have started a few years earlier as 99 students were suspended due to their inability to pay extended fees. After that the principal at the time, Dr. A.T. Wise, opened a school named Union School. It was created mainly for poor and underprivileged students, with Pogose taking it over two years later at his own expense. He gave it the name Pogose School.
This school was named Pogos Anglo Vernacular School at Dhaka. The school might have started in his own house and later moved to his friend JC Paniati's home. Paniati was paid 10tk as rent. The former headmaster of the school Monindrachandra Vattachariya moved the school from Paniati's house to the inside of Armenisa Church at the Sudhamay House, or beside the Shabistan Cinema Hall. The house boasted a large balcony, a garden and a cricket ground.
In 1878 the school was taken over by Mohinimohon Das, a famous zamindar and banker, after Pogose left Dhaka for London. After the death of Mohinimohon Das in 1896 the school was looked after by the trustee board of the Zamindari Estate, who moved it to Chittaranjan Avenue where it still stands today. It is believed that Mohonomohon's mother appointed Headmaster Proshonnokumar and Asst. Headmaster Horihor Dhor in 1907.
N.P. Pogose was not only its founder, but also its headmaster. It is found from a report of Dhaka College that the income of the school on 1850 was 50 rupees, and expenditure was 90 rupees. N.P. Pogose paid the all of the expenses from his own pocket. Mohini Mohon also donated three thousand taka every year for the duration of his ownership.
On August 13 2015 Pogose School integrated with Jagannath University assuming the new name of Pogose Laboratory School and College, IER, Jagannath University.

Headmasters

N.P. Pogose was the first headmaster of the school. He was an expert linguist. In the Jubilee report of the school Monindrachandra Vattachariya mentioned Pogose was the headmaster until 1855 and were used to give 3,000tk per month even after his departure.
The first Bengali headmaster of the school was Kali Kishore Chatterjee. During 1855-57 it had only 145 students, but just 10 years later this had increased to 562. In 1957 27 students passed entrance from the school with eight of them achieving scholarships.
According to the Jubilee report the third headmaster of the school was the artist Charles Pott. The portrait he drew of Pogose is still in the office room of the headmaster. Charles ran the school until 1858 and a short term was run by Horokumar Basu and Kalikanto. Then famous Brahma personnel Dinnath Sen was head from 1861-64. The most famous headmaster was probably Gopimohon Boshak. Later the social constructor Nobokanto Chatterjee became the headmaster. Prasanna Kumar Sen was the headmaster for 35 years. Julfa Mohammed was the headmaster from 1974.
Below are the headmasters of the school:
No.NameJoining DateRetire Date
1Mr. N. P. PogoseJune 1848.....
2Mr. C. PoteDecember, 1855November, 1858
Mr. Hur Coomar Bose December, 1858
3Mr. Kashee Kantha MookherjeeJanuary, 1859December, 1860
Mr. Hur Coomar Bose January, 1861February 12, 1861
4Mr. Denonath SenFebruary 13, 1861December, 1864
Mr. Hur Coomar Bose January, 1864April 4, 1865
5Mr. Gopee Mohan BysackApril 5, 1865December, 1872
6Mr. Kumud Bandhu BoseJanuary, 1873February 7, 1874
7Mr. Kailash Chandra DuttaFebruary 13, 1874April 12, 1875
8Mr. Amar Chand LahaApril 13, 1875January 24, 1876
9Mr. J. S. Rus January 25, 1876July 20, 1876
Mr. Amar Chand LahaJuly 21, 1876July 20, 1882
Mr. Mahesh Candra Datta January, 1883February, 1883
10Mr. Brindaban Chadra DharMarch, 1883October, 1906
11Mr. Prasanna Kumar SenNovember, 1906January 21, 1941
Mr. Jogesh Chandra Sen January 22, 1941April 17, 1941
12Mr. Manindra Chandra BhattacharyyaApril 18, 1941June, 1961
Mr. Jiban Chandra Saha July, 1961November, 1961
13Mr. Fazhul Huq.November 19, 1961April 8, 1973
14Mr. Mohammed Ibrahim KhalilApril 9, 1973September 19, 1974
Mr. Jiban Chandra Saha September 23, 1974November 17, 1974
15Mr. Zulfa MohammedNovember 18, 1974June 27, 2010
16Mr. Syed Zulfiquiar Alam ChowdhuryAugust 4, 2010

Notable alumni

Many of the students of Pogose School became famous and successful. Among them are Chief Ministers Profullah Chandra Ghosh and Ataur Rahman Khan, as well as the first Bengali doctorate Nishikanto Chatterjee and the first Indian Doctor of Science Aghornath Chatterjee, who was the father of Sarojini Naidu.
There are a number of alumni who went on to become pioneers in their fields, including Dr. P K Ray, the first Bengali principal of Dhaka College, Sir K G Gupta, the first Indian Privy Councilor and the first ICS officer from East Bengal, and Girish Chandra Sen, first Quran translator in Bengali.
oet Shamsur Rahman, Kaykobad, editor Kaliprasanna Ghosh, writer and Marxist activist Somen Chanda and comedian Bhanu Banerjee, as well as Zahirul Haque, Director of Banking Control of Karachi, the writer Nowsher Ali Khan Yusufzai and Babu Mathuramohan Chakraborty, the founder of Ayurvedic medicine house Sakti Ausadhalaya studied here.
Many scholars came to visit the school including Swami Vivekananda, Michael Madhusudan Dutta, Rambai and others.