The Oriental Seminary started in 1829 by the educator Gour Mohan Addy, was the earliest privately run, first-rate school for children of Hindu parents in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

(then known as Calcutta). It was open only to boys of Hindu parents. It was possibly India’s first fully private school, as even

Hindu School Hindu School is a state government-administered school in Kolkata (Calcutta), India. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest modern educational institution in Asia (then known as ''Hindu College''). The institution played a key role during Bengal R ...

, then known as Hindu College, and also Hare school had to abide by certain government guidelines. In earlier days, students wanting to study

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

had to go to the missionary schools, where they were subject to substantial religious influence. The establishment of a school for learning English, free from religious influences was a major contribution of Addy.Sengupta, Subodh Chandra and Bose, Anjali (editors), 1976/1998, ''Sansad Bangali Charitabhidhan'' (Biographical dictionary) Vol I, , p. 147, Traditional Indian education centres which taught

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

and/or

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

had started fading out.

The founder and teachers

Gour Mohan Addy (20 January 1805 – 3 March 1846) founded the school without government funding. He appointed teachers to each class level by their ethnicity: Eurasian teachers for junior classes, Bengali teachers for intermediate classes, and Englishmen or Bengalis for upper levels. He died in a boating accident on the

Hooghly river The Bhagirathi Hooghly River (Anglicized alternatively spelled ''Hoogli'' or ''Hugli'') or the 'Bhāgirathi-Hooghly', called the Ganga or the Kati-Ganga in mythological texts, is the eastern distributary of the Ganges River in West Bengal, Indi ...

, when returning from a trip to

Serampore Serampore (also called ''Serampur'', ''Srirampur'', ''Srirampore'', ''Shreerampur'', ''Shreerampore'', ''Shrirampur'' or ''Shrirampore'') is a city of Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarter of the Srirampor ...

to hire a teacher. Currently the principal of the primary section is Rina Basak Halder.

Notable alumni

Oriental Seminary was the earliest school

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

attended.Life of Rabindranath Tagore at a glance
/ref> The first experience of school aroused in the youngster the yearning to be a teacher. Wielding a stick, he used to teach from the railings in the big veranda of the palatial

Jorasanko Thakur Bari Jorasanko Thakur Bari (Bengali: ''House of the Thakurs''; anglicised to ''Tagore'') in Jorasanko, North Kolkata, West Bengal, India, is the ancestral home of the Tagore family. It is the birthplace of poet Rabindranath Tagore and the host of t ...

. Among the list of other notable alumni are

Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati (; bn, ভক্তিসিদ্ধান্ত সরস্বতী; ; 6 February 1874 – 1 January 1937), born Bimala Prasad Datt (, ), was a Gaudīya Vaisnava Hindu guru (spiritual master), ācārya (philo ...

, Krishnadas Pal,

Girish Chandra Ghosh Girish Chandra Ghosh (28 February 1844 – 8 February 1912) was a Bengali actor, director, and writer. He was largely responsible for the golden age of Bengali theatre.Kundu, Pranay K. ''Development of Stage and Theatre Music in Bengal.'' Publ ...

Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee Womesh Chandra Bannerjee (or Umesh Chandra Banerjee by current English orthography of Bengali names; 29 December 1844 – 21 July 1906) was an Indian barrister. He was a co-founder and the first president of Indian National Congress. Born on 1 ...

, Sir

Gooroodas Banerjee Sir Gooroodas Banerjee (also Gurudas or Gurudas Bandyopadhyay, bn, স্যার গুরুদাস ব্যানার্জী; 26 January 1844 – 2 December 1918) was a Bengali Indian judge of the Calcutta High Court. In 1890, he als ...

, Sambhunath Pandit,

Vishwanath Datta Vishwanath Datta (1835 — 25 February 1884) was a Bengali Attorney at law, philanthropist and novelist. He was the father of Swami Vivekananda, Mahendranath Dutta and Bhupendranath Dutta. Early life Vishwanath was born in an aristocratic Hindu ...

, Amrita Lal Basu,

Akshay Kumar Datta Akshay Kumar Datta (also spelt Akshay Kumar Dutta) ( bn, অক্ষয় কুমার দত্ত) (15 July 1820 – 18 May 1886) was a Bengali writer from India. He was one of the initiators of the Bengal Renaissance. Early life He wa ...

, Sudhindranath Dutta,Sudhindranath: the Person I Knew
/ref> Jatindranath Sengupta,

Swami Abhedananda Swami Abhedananda (2 October 1866 – 8 September 1939), born Kaliprasad Chandra, was a direct disciple of the 19th century mystic Ramakrishna Paramahansa and the founder of Ramakrishna Vedanta Math. Swami Vivekananda sent him to the West to h ...

Bankim Ghosh Bankim Ghosh (22 October 1922 — 3 June 1992) was a veteran actor of Bengali film and theatre personality. Early life Ghosh was born in 1922 in Kolkata, British India. He passed Matriculate examination from Oriental Seminary and B.Com. from C ...

Malay Roy Choudhury Malay Roy Choudhury (born 29 October 1939) is an Indian Bengali poet, playwright, short story writer, essayist and novelist who founded the Hungryalist movement in the 1960s. Early life and education Malay Roy Choudhury was born in Patna, ...

and

Mithun Chakraborty Mithun Chakraborty (born Gouranga Chakraborty; 16 June 1950) is an Indian actor, producer and politician who predominantly worked in Hindi and Bengali language films. He is a former Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament. He is the recipient of three ...

.Seedhi Baat -- Mithun Chakraborty
/ref>

References

{{coord missing, West Bengal Schools in Kolkata Academic institutions associated with the Bengal Renaissance Schools in Colonial India Educational institutions established in 1829 1829 establishments in India British colonial architecture in India