With the patronage of Shri Krishnajivan Purkayastha of Mahadevpur, a lifelong associate of Bam Nityananda High School, an M.E. school was established at his residence in 1922. Shri Mahendra Sharma of Dulalgram was the headmaster of the school. He later worked as an Ayurvedic physician in Silchar. Kavyaratna Manik Sinha was appointed as the head pundit. In this newly established school, boys of all classes, even students of the Bengali primary class, were admitted.
At this time, the late Krishnadhan Barman of Jivangram and
Krishnacharan Barman of Lantugram joined hands with him, and they proposed
financial assistance to the late Nityananda Barman. The late Nityananda Barman
of Sadagram was an illiterate and childless but wealthy person. He had
expressed a desire to dig a pond for philanthropic work and to preserve his
memory, and sought the help of Shri Krishnajivan Purkayastha, a member of the
Local Board. They seized this opportunity and advised him to start an M.E.
school with Rs. 1000/- instead of digging a pond, which would better serve his
purpose. The late Nityananda Barman agreed to this proposal. Then, the late
Krishnacharan Barman donated five bighas of land for the school.
Thus, everything was arranged for opening a regular M.E.
school, but the problem arose regarding a qualified headmaster. Then the local
people met in a meeting, and according to the decision of the meeting, Shri
Manikya Chandra Nath Laskar, B.A., was requested to take charge as the
headmaster of the newly established Bam Nityananda M.E. School. Manikya Chandra
Nath Laskar was a distinguished graduate and the second graduate among the
Hindus of Silchar subdivision. But with the intention of rendering his services
for the spread of education in this dark corner of the district, he agreed to
accept this responsibility. Accordingly, he joined his post on January 2, 1923.
The school started in a bamboo structure with a corrugated
iron sheet roof on the north bank of a pond on the west side of Local Board
Road, without any funds, furniture, or a proper building. The boys sat on a
raised platform. The worst time for the school was in March 1923 when a severe
storm blew away this thatched structure. We were completely helpless, and the
classes were shifted to the house of the late Krishnacharan Barman, the father
of Nareshwar Barman, a present member of the school management committee and
the donor of the land for the school. In 1923, there were 9 students in class
IV and 16 students in class III. The following year, a building with a wooden
structure and a corrugated iron sheet roof was constructed at the school's
present location. In 1924, the school received departmental recognition, and
the department instructed the school to open a fund of Rs. 500. This money was
collected from the founder, the late Nityananda Barman.
In 1930, the school received a building grant of Rs. 2750 and
a departmental grant of Rs. 15 per month. With this building grant, a
semi-permanent 'L' shaped building was constructed. This was the main building
of the school and which was repaired this year (1960).
Meanwhile, there were also changes in the staff. In 1924, the
late Jogesh Chandra Das, a matriculate, was appointed as the second master. He
later left the school in 1929 after getting a job as an Assistant Police S/I.
He was replaced by the present teacher, Shri Rajkishore Lasker. In 1925,
Rajmohan Barbhuiya was appointed as the second vernacular teacher. This staff
continued until 1938, when it was upgraded to a high school. Then in 1939, the
Second World War broke out, and a new crisis arose for the school. Graduate
teachers started leaving the school, hoping to get lucrative jobs under the
government.
Shri Golap Sinha, B.A., joined the school in 1940. It was
only due to the sincere efforts of the headmaster and the then assistant
headmaster of the school, Shri Golap Sinha, that it could overcome the crisis.
The school was affiliated with Calcutta University in 1942. The school received
many grants from the government and projects for constructing many buildings
for the school. Subsequently, a grant of ₹67,000 was provided for the building
to transform the school into a multipurpose high school in 1960. The foundation
stone was laid on February 8, 1961.
Finally, I would be failing in my duty if I did not pay my
heartfelt tribute to Manik Sinha, Kabyaratna, who rendered invaluable service
to the school. Due to continuous illness, he was forced to resign from his post
in 1944. His name will be inscribed in golden letters in the history of the
school, and the local people will remember him with gratitude and thanks.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Manikya Chandra Nath Lasker was the founding headmaster of
Bam Nityananda High School. This article was published in the first issue of
the school magazine ‘Bamshree’, published in 1962.
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