Howrah Zilla School, abbreviated as ''HZS'', is a

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

al,

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

medium,

higher secondary The Higher Secondary School Certificate is a secondary qualification in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. Higher Secondary Education The Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education in Bangladesh recognises "Higher Secondary Education" und ...

school located in

Howrah Howrah (, , alternatively spelled as Haora) is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. Howrah is located on the western bank of the Hooghly River opposite its twin city of Kolkata. Administratively it lies within Howrah district, and is th ...

in the state of

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

, India. It is the only government high school of

. It is affiliated with

West Bengal Board of Secondary Education The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education is the West Bengal state government administered autonomous examining authority for the Standard 10 examination (or secondary school level examination) of West Bengal, India. It has come into force ...

and

West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education The West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE) came into existence in 1975. It is an autonomous examining authority, which is responsible for conducting examinations for standard XII for both government and private schools aff ...

History

The school was established on 1 December 1845. The plan for the school was approved by the District Magistrate, Cockburn Sahib. British teacher, Mr. Donalgard was appointed as the first headmaster. During that period, educationist Bhagabati Charan Basu served as one of its teachers. At that time, it was known as Howrah Government School.

Bhudev Mukhopadhyay Bhudev Mukhopadhyay (1827–1894) was a writer and intellectual in 19th century Bengal. His works were considered ardent displays of nationalism and philosophy in the period of the Bengal renaissance. His novel ''Anguriya Binimoy'' (1857) was t ...

, a disciple of

Henry Louis Vivian Derozio Henry Louis Vivian Derozio (18 April 1809 – 26 December 1831) was an Indian poet and assistant headmaster of Hindu College, Kolkata. He was a radical thinker of his time and one of the first Indian educators to disseminate Western learning an ...

and classmate of

Michael Madhusudan Dutt Michael Madhusudan Dutt ((Bengali: মাইকেল মধুসূদন দত্ত); (25 January 1824 – 29 June 1873) was a Bengali poet and playwright. He is considered one of the pioneers of Bengali literature. Early life Dutt ...

, was the first Indian headmaster of the school. Classes were initially held in a rented house near Howrah Court, in exchange for Rs. 60. Later, when the number of students increased, the British Government provided new land and money for setting up a new building for the students. In 1885, students of this school first appeared in the entrance examination of

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate State university (India), state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered ...

. Makhanlal Dey, who ranked first in this exam in 1899, was appointed as the Headmaster of this institution in 1938. Other notable faculty include Umes Chandra Das, Korunanidhan Bandopadhyay, Bidhubhusan Bhattacharya,

Jogen Chowdhury Jogen Chowdhury (born 19 February 1939) is an eminent Indian painter and considered an important painter of 21st century India. He lives and works in Santiniketan. He graduated from the Government College of Art & Craft, Kolkata and subsequentl ...

,Jaydeep Sarangi and Sagar Sen. Now it is the only Governmental school of

Howrah district Howrah district (, ) is a district of the West Bengal state in eastern India. Howrah district is one of the highly urbanized area of West Bengal. The urbanised sectors gradually increase the slum populations. Howrah is the third smallest distric ...

Campus

Howrah Zilla School has six buildings in total. Two of them have been declared as heritage buildings. The school has two different teachers' rooms for morning and day section. The school has two conference halls named as "New Hall" and "Old Hall".

Laboratories

The school has five subject-based laboratories. *Chemistry Laboratory *Physics Laboratory *Computer Laboratory *Biology Laboratory *Geography Laboratory *Statistics Laboratory

Notable alumni

Soumitra Chatterjee Soumitra Chatterjee (also spelt as Chattopadhyay; 16 June 193515 November 2020) was an Indian film actor, play-director, playwright, writer, thespian and poet. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential actors in the history of ...

, film and stage actor and poet. *

Subroto Mukherjee Air Marshal Subroto Mukerjee OBE (Bengali: সুব্রত মুখোপাধ্যায়) (5 March 1911 – 8 November 1960) was an Indian military officer who was the first Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of the Indian Air Force. He wa ...

, first Air Marshal of the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...

. *

Mani Shankar Mukherjee Mani Shankar Mukherjee (commonly known as ''Sankar'' in both Bengali and English-language literature) is an Indian writer in the Bengali language, who also served as the Sheriff of Kolkata. He grew up in Howrah district of West Bengal. Personal ...

, famous Bengali writer, well known for his book on

Swami Vivekananda Swami Vivekananda (; ; 12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta (), was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the intro ...

Muhammad Shahidullah Muhammad Shahidullah ( bn, মুহম্মদ শহীদুল্লাহ; 10 July 1885 – 13 July 1969) was a Bengali linguist, philologist, educationist, and writer. In 2004, he was ranked number 16 in BBC's poll of the Greatest Benga ...

, educationist, linguist * Shri Debasis Jana , chairman cum managing director of Andrew Yule and Company * Bani Kumar , the writer of famous Mahisasuramardini script which is played on the auspicious Mornings of Mahalaya in the voice of Birendra Krishna Bhadra. * Ganesh Chandra Mitter, first Indian to be the Mint Master of India, Also the founder and fifth President of Indian Institute of Metals

Alumni Association

Alumni association of the school was established in the year 2010. The association mainly celebrates the foundation day of the institution. It also arranges an annual medical camp for students.

References

{{Zilla Schools Education in Howrah Educational institutions established in 1845 1845 establishments in India