West Bengal kick-starts renovation of Metropolitan Institution

KOLKATA: The iconic

Metropolitan Institution

, founded by Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar on Prasanna Coomar Tagore Street at Pathuriaghata, is finally getting a

facelift

.


Sarva Siksha Mission has already taken up the project of restoring the Grade IIB heritage building and the

renovation

work was started on Saturday. The state government has already identified this school, where an English medium primary section will be started from the next academic year along with the existing Bengali medium section.

Chairman of Sarva Siksha Mission and primary school council, Kartik Manna, said: “The project of restoring the heritage school was taken up under the initiative of chief minister Mamata Banerjee and education minister Partha

Chatterjee. At present, we are renovating three rooms, where classes will be held from January 2. Gradually, we will renovate and restoretheentirebuilding.” Manna also said that the belongings of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar will also be preserved and kept on the school premises.

Three teachers have already been recruited for the English medium section of the school. Teacher-in-charge Ritopa Bhattacharya is happy with how things have taken shape. She thanked the state government for its timely intervention, which will not only save the school but also the ageold building. She felt that with 25 students, the future of the school looked bleak. “But the decision to open an English medium section and restore the age-old institution is like a ray of hope,” she added.

Despite being a heritage building, KMC pulled down a dilapidated portion of the Burrabazar branch of the Metropolitan Institution on April7 as it posed threat to public. But a timely intervention of the residents and the members of Purono Kolkata’r Golpo (PKG), a Facebook group, saved the building from demolition.

Swarnali Chattopadhyay, admin of the group, said, “It is a proud moment for us as our initiative of restoring Metropolitan Institution has finally paid off. We proved that common citizens can do wonders if there is a will to bring about a change.”

Ellora Saha, councillor of the area, said it was her duty to restore the glory of the school. “On Friday, I got the news of the school’s restoration and was very happy. Since there has been a long-standing demand for an English medium school in the area, I think it will do well in the locality,” said Saha.

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