President Pranab Mukherjee has inaugurated the new building of a historic Ghatal Vidyasagar School in Paschim Medinipur, West Bengal.
Ghatal Vidyasagar High School is one of the oldest schools in West Bengal, established at a time when Indian nationalism was in its nascent stages.
It was the foresightedness and the sacrifices of the people of Ghatal, particularly Tarini Charan Mukhopadhyay, who was the Munsiff of Ghatal at that time, and Kedarnath Haldar, that this school was set up.
Speaking on the occasion, Mukherjee said that in the early days of education in Bengal, the personal zeal of great personalities like Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and Raja Rammohan Roy laid the foundation of modern education system in Bengal.
Mukherjee said that since he himself was a teacher who still cherishes his teaching days, he can well understand the adversities teachers of those days had to undergo.
"It was the zeal of people like Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar that brought the flicker of education in Bengal, the fruit of which was reaped later on by all of us," he said.
Mukherjee also expressed his happiness that Ghatal Vidyasagar High School had put resources provided by Planning Commission to good use by constructing a new building.
