| Patha Bhavan (পাঠ ভবন) | |
|---|---|
| Established | 1965 |
| Type | Private school |
| Location | Kolkata, West Bengal, India |
| Website | |
Patha Bhavan (পাঠ ভবন) is a private co-educational school in Kolkata, India. The school was established on June 28th, 1965.[1]
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The school was named after the university school of Visva-Bharati University (called Patha Bhavana). It was inspired by the education system started by the poet Rabindranath Tagore as well as the more progressive features of the national movement. It was also influenced by the ideology of the Bratachari Movement which was started by the nationalist civilian, Gurusaday Dutt, Esq., ICS. It was founded in 1965 by the Patha Bhavan Society under the guidance of the film-maker Satyajit Ray, the historian Susobhan Sarkar, a judge of the Calcutta High Court, Tarun Bose and an eye-specialist, Amiya Bose. Satyajit Ray, whose contribution to the success of the school was considerable, designed its logo. The legislator and academician Mira Datta Gupta also played an important role in the school's establishment. The educationist, Uma Sehanobis was one of its earliest Principals.
The management of the school has been in the hands of personalities of Calcutta, such as the economist, Santosh Bhattacharya, former Vice Chancellor of Calcutta University and the historian Barun De, Chairman of the West Bengal Heritage Commission, both of whom were for some years its General Secretary. The barrister, Pradosh Mallick and the civilian, Prasad Ranjan Ray, former Principal Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs, Government of West Bengal, were members of the school's governing body. The former Mayor of Calcutta, Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya has been associated with the school for many years. Other film and theatre personalities, including film and theatre directors, such as Mrinal Sen, and Sambhu Mitra, a winner of the Ramon Magasasay Award, and Kumarendu Ray, a veteran theatre director and actor, were also involved in its management.
The aim of the founders was to establish a co-educational school in Calcutta which would offer education in both Bengali and English. In the early years it was a policy of the school management not to give excessive importance to examinations, although half-yearly and yearly tests were held from its inception. The first batch of students from the school took the Madhyamik (Secondary) Examination in 1972.
Another aim of the school was to impart an education to its students in an open atmosphere similar to the method of teaching followed by Rabindranath Tagore in his school in Santiniketan, although the medium of instruction at Patha Bhavan is more formal in nature. While paying heed to the importance of traditional methods of learning, the founders of the school do not allow excessive emphasis on traditional learning to dominate teaching. The institution follows the principle of secular education evident in Tagore's ashram in Santiniketan.
The school has Montessori, Primary, Secondary and Higher Secondary branches at different locations. Higher Secondary Branch offers subject combination in Science, Arts and Commerce.
The school offers education in the mixed medium. At the start of primary school, a student is streamlined into the Bengali or the English medium. Each standard has four sections, of which two are held in Bengali and two in English. The other two languages taught are Sanskrit and Hindi, both of which are offered as third language in the ninth and tenth standards.
Administration of the branches of the school is carried out separately. The High School is administered by an Executive Council which has a President and a General Secretary. The daily administration of the school is in the hands of the Principal.
The Secondary Branch of the school is affiliated to the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education, while the Higher Secondary Branch is affiliated to the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education.
Since one of the main objectives of the school is to encourage education in Bengali both inside and outside the classrooms, it culturally identifies itself with Tagore's Patha Bhavana in Santiniketan and holds programmes which have been traditionally held in that school, such as the Sahitya Sabhas.
The Sahitya Sabhas are annual meets where the students of the school participate in the writing, reading and recitation of Bengali short stories and poems. Pochishey Boishak and Baishey Sravan are also celebrated and observed every year, and a fair, Sukumar Mela, named after the humourist, Sukumar Ray, has also been held annually. Satyajit Ray allowed the holding of the premier of his film Joy Baba Phelunath (The Elephant God) in the school. Proceeds from the viewing of his other films were also donated to the school for its development. The Rabindrasangeet exponent, Jyotirindra Moitra, has been involved in the development of the school.
Students of the school are placed in houses named after four ancient Indian universities. They are Takshashila (yellow), Nalanda (green), Ujjaini (blue) and Vikramshila (red).
Students play sports such as cricket, football and table tennis. Its sports ground is located on Fern Road which is close to all the four buildings of the school. It organises a sports day at the Rabindra Sarovar stadium in Kolkata.
The four branches of the school are located at four sites of Ballygunge, a South Calcutta residential locality: the Montessori and primary wings, which function under a single administration, are located at premises on Swinhoe Street and Palm Avenue, Kolkata, respectively. The High School and the humanities wing of the Higher Secondary branch are located at 103, A and C, Ballygunge Place, Kolkata, (a colonial two storied building, popularly called 'Delta House') while the science wing of the Higher Secondary branch is now located at 8/2, Merlin Park, Kolkata, the former residence of Smt. Lakshmi Ray, a former Principal of the primary branch of the school. This is the house, also an example of earlier twentieth century colonial architecture, that was given by its owner for the setting up of the school, but due to legal hurdles could be occupied after more than thirty years of the school's establishment.
There two independent branches of the same school. The first one is the school in Kolkata and the second one is the new branch which has been opened in Dankuni, close to Kolkata.
Alumni have gained admission to the Indian Statistical Institute, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, the four Medical Colleges in Calcutta and elsewhere in West Bengal, Presidency College, Calcutta, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, as well as western universities, such as Oxford University and Cambridge University, and US Ivy League colleges, such as Harvard University and Yale University.