Oriental Seminary

History

The Oriental Seminary was established in 1829 by the educator Gour Mohan Addy. It was the first privately-run, first-rate school for Hindus (the children of Hindus)Hindu parents in Calcutta (now known as Kolkata). It was open only to boys of Hindu parents. It was possibly India's first fully private school, as even Hindu School, Hindu College, and Hare school had to abide by certain government guidelines.

In earlier days, students wanting to study English 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. Traditional Indian education centres which taught Sanskrit and/or Persian 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, when returning from a trip to Serampore 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 attended. 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.

Among the list of other notable alumni are Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati,{{cite book |author-link = Ferdinando Sardella

References

References

1. (20 February 2005). "Buddha woe over English". The Telegraph, 20 February 2005.
2. [[David Kopf. Kopf, David]], ''The Brahmo Samaj and the Shaping of the Modern Indian Mind'', p. 49, Princeton University Press.
3. Roy, Subhajoy. (13 January 2006). "Pages from past lessons". The Telegraph, 13 January 2006.
4. Sengupta, Subodh Chandra and Bose, Anjali (editors), 1976/1998, ''Sansad Bangali Charitabhidhan'' (Biographical dictionary) Vol I, {{in lang. bn, p. 147, {{ISBN. 81-85626-65-0
5. "Life of Rabindranath Tagore at a glance".
6. Banerjee, Hiranmay, ''Thakurbarir Katha'', {{in lang. bn, p. 124, Sishu Sahitya Sansad]
7. Ghose, Chandreyee. (7 May 2015). "Treasure trove at Tagore's school". Telegraph.
8. "The Telegraph - Calcutta : Metro".
9. [http://www.parabaas.com/translation/database/authors/texts/sudhindranathdutta.html Sudhindranath: the Person I Knew]
10. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRefGYe-go4 Seedhi Baat -- Mithun Chakraborty]
11. "School wipes dust off treasure trove".