Khanto Bala Rai (born 1897) was a Bengali Christian educator, head of the

Mission Girls' High School Mission Girls' High School, established in 1868, is one of the oldest schools for girls in Midnapore town, West Bengal, India. The school follows the course curricula of West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) and West Bengal Counci ...

Midnapore Medinipur or Midnapore (Pron: med̪iːniːpur) is a city known for its history in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the West Medinipur district. It is situated on the banks of the Kangsabati River (variously known as '' ...

beginning in 1923.

Early life

Khanto Bala Rai was the daughter of evangelist Sachidananda Rai and teacher Esther Rai, Christian converts in Bengal. She attended

Bethune College Bethune College is a women's college located on Bidhan Sarani in Kolkata, India, and affiliated to the University of Calcutta. It is the oldest women's college in India. It was established as a girls' school in 1849, and as a college in 1879. ...

in Calcutta, and the

University of Nebraska A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

Career

Rai taught at a Baptist girls' school in Midnapore. Her older sister, Shanta Bala Rai, was also a teacher at Midnapore. Rai traveled with medical missionary Mary W. Bacheler to the United States in 1921. That year, she made appearances and speeches at American Baptist gatherings, with Burmese doctor Ma Saw Sa and Chinese teacher

Kan En Vong Kan En Vong (born 1899), also known as Grace Kan or Grace Sweet, was a Chinese kindergarten educator. Early life Kan was a little girl in Hangzhou when she joined the household of American Baptist missionaries Rev. and Mrs. William S. Sweet; it ...

, among others, as a group representing the work of Baptist women missionaries in Asian countries. She collected English-language books while in the United States, to create a library at the school in Midnapore when she returned. "We would like all kinds of children's story books, magazines, and some religious story books," she explained to a Baptist publication in 1922. She returned to Midnapore after her time in the United States, and returned to schoolwork there, as headmistress of the Midnapore Mission Girls' School starting in 1923. "In executive ability, tact with teachers, pupils, and patrons, and keen insight into the needs and opportunities of the school Miss Rai has shown her real worth and has greatly strengthened the school," noted a 1924 report. She described the challenges of a growing school in a 1925 letter to American Baptists. She was still principal of the school in a 1926 update.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rai, Khanto Bala Indian educators Bengali educators Indian Baptists 1897 births University of Nebraska alumni Bethune College alumni Year of death missing Women educators from West Bengal Indian women educators 20th-century Indian educators Educationists from India Indian educational theorists Indian women educational theorists 20th-century Indian educational theorists Indian academic administrators Indian academics Indian women academics Indian schoolteachers Heads of schools in India People from Paschim Medinipur district