Santragachi Kedarnath Institution, Howrah


Santragachi Kedarnath Institution, abbreviated as S.K.N.I, is a Government-sponsored, Bengali medium, higher secondary school located in Santragachi, Howrah in the state of West Bengal, India. The first vernacular Bengali medium school of Howrah district, Santragachi Minor School, that was founded in 1857, was upgraded to Santragachi Kedarnath Institution in 1925. Howrah's first Indian chairman and vice-chairman Kedarnath Bhattacharya founded the original institution in 1957 and the professor of Ashutosh College, Ashutosh Mukherjee laid the foundation stone in 1920.

History

The Santragachi and Ramrajatala areas in Howrah were previously undeveloped. There were only two high schools; "Santragachi Madhya Engreji School" and "Chakraberia Madhyamik School". Both were English medium and aided by the Government. A "toll" or "pathsala" was started in 1770 by the Bhattacharya family. In 1800, Gourikanta Bhattacharya expanded the toll which existed up to 1860. In 1857, zamindar Baboo Kedarnath Bhattacharya established a vernacular Bengali medium school with the help of Government aid. It was the first vernacular Bengali medium school to receive Government aid. In 1864 this school was demolished by cyclone, and was removed to the house of Kedarnath Bhattacharya, where it stayed for two years. At a cost of ₹4000/- a new pucca building was constructed for the school. In 1870, this school was amalgamated with Santragachi Madhya Engraji School and named the Santragachi Minor School. An educationist and zamindar, Manmatanath Seth wanted to build a high school for the children of the locality, so he donated a grant of money. The Kar brothers donated land, but Manmatanath Seth died before the High school could be constructed. The Kar brothers built the school using the donations for the students of Santragachi Minor School and in November 1925, this was named "Kedarnath Institution" in the name of Baboo Kedarnath Bhattacharya who had died in 1915. The foundation year is now considered as 1925.
The foundation stone was laid by the vice chancellor and professor of Ashutosh College, Ashutosh Mukherjee on 17 July 1920. From 1925, the newly named institution started with 225 students in six classrooms. In 1926, the class for the ninth standard started with the temporary permission of Calcutta University, and in 1927, after the completion of tenth standard, the school's students were sent for board exams the first time. In 1933, the school received its permanent affiliation from the West Bengal Board. In 1960, the school was recognised by the University Of Calcutta, to impact Elementary Scientific knowledge and Elementary Mechanics to the students.

Infrastructure

The school's main building has three floors and contains about 30 classrooms. The main building has many blocks. The main block is Ram Charan Sett Block which is situated in the middle, having entrance to the main building. The block contains staffroom, teachers room, headmaster room and visitors room in two floors. The three-storied Guest Keen Williams Block is next to it containing 12 classrooms, followed by three-storied Rupen Kar Memorial Block is located, followed by the Guest Keen Williams Block.
In the left side of the Ram Charan Sett Block the two-storied Upendranath Kar Block and Sarbha Sikhya Bhaban is located. A smart room is under construction here. Beside these blocks, there are another three blocks in three floors: Ashutosh Mukherjee Block, Ramkrishna Das Block and Satish Chandra Block. These were the blocks that were used in previous days as classrooms. Now there are located the Chemistry and Biology laboratories. At the Satish Chandra Block, a main gate was situated in previous times that was once the entrance to the school, now it is fully deminished. The upper "Asutosh Mukherjee Block" is under the girls section.Another computer lab with 15 computers for lower classes is located on the second floor of Ram Charan Sett block.
In front of the school there is a small playground or having a toilet and Bhagini Nivedita Muktomoncho. In the backside of the building, there is a big playground used for sports and other functional purposes.
Beside the field, there are the minor buildings. There are two buildings, one for boys section and one for girls section. Both buildings are three-storied. The whole building for boys is named Jubilee Building and the building for girls is named as Nivedita Block. The boys building has 6 classrooms, a library and a hall which is named Jubilee hall. A auditorium is planned in the third floor of this block, that is under construction.
At the end of the ground, there is a two-storied short building that is used for primary section only in the morning.

Academics

Affiliations

The school is affiliated to West Bengal Board of Primary Education for preprimary-IV, West Bengal Board of Secondary Education for V-X and West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education for XI-XII.

Curriculum

Every year the school has about 1600 students from V–XII and 600 students from I–IV. Each class is divided into some sections. Each section contains 60 to 70 students. There are about 40 faculties.
After class X the classes are divided into Arts, Commerce and Science. Bengali and English are compulsory subjects.
The Arts has the most number of students. The offered subjects in humanities are Political Science, Philosophy, Geography, History, Computer Application, Environmental Studies.
The Science department offers Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Biological Science, Computer Science and Environmental Studies. The department has 30-40 students in 2018 and 2019.
The department of Commerce offers Accountancy,Business studies, Cost and Tax, Commercial Law and preliminary auditing, Environmental Studies, Computer Application. The department has about 120 students in 2019 and 100 students in 2018.

Extracurricular activities

The school's football team is one of the most reputed teams in the interschool football competitions in Howrah. It participates in M P Cup and Reliance Foundation Youth Sports National School Championships. The school won the Bandhuta's Amit Bosu Smriti Amantran Football Competition in 2013 defeating Howrah Zilla School in final and in 2018, defeating Shibpur Srimat Swami Projnananda Saraswati Vidyalaya in final and also in 2020. In 2018, the school also won "Barkuni Smiti Cup" held at Jagacha High School.
The annual school sports event takes place containing 100 metre race, 200 metre race, marathon, Shot put, long jump, Kicking the ball and other races such as the spoon race, sack race and fruit race. In the month of August–September the annual football tournament is held.
Saraswati Puja is a special event at this school. The school received numerous awards for its famous Saraswati Puja.
Apart from this rallies, seminars, quiz competitions etc. also take place in various occasions.

Committees