KOLKATA: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had, in the past, recollected her association with Manmatha Nath Nandan Girls’ and Boys’ Primary School. “As a college student, I used to come here to teach in a school where I got Rs 60 per month as salary, which I gave to my mother as by then I had lost my father,” she had earlier said.
Singh recalled that Banerjee used to teach primary students at the school in the early 60s. “I was a boy then but I still remember Didi coming to the school in a white sari with a brown border. In those days, the school had around 400 students. As a Bhowanipore resident, we have a strong emotional attachment with this school, which is why we fought against the promoting proposal,” he told TOI.
Established by local luminary Manmantha Nath Nandan around 1960 to spread literacy among underprivileged children, the school turned into a government primary school in the 70s. But, over the years, student strength reduced from 400-odd to about 15 now.
“The school was not in good shape when I joined in 2008. But we worked hard to scout for students and now we have around 15 kids, including five kids with special needs. We are grateful to the honourable CM for the upgrade,” said teacher-in-charge Anirban Mukherjee.
According to sources, the upgraded school will have multi-storeyed buildings, with all modern facilities, and efforts are on to start classes I to V from the next session. “My husband tried a lot to save the school,” said councillor Papia Singh. “We are happy that it is finally turning into an English-medium school, where underprivileged children can study in future.”
A local resident said they were “extremely happy” that the government had taken the initiative to restore the primary school.
