Old Dhaka’s Armanitola Government High School has established itself as the pioneer in the country’s secondary education. This ancient school has been spreading the light of education for 120 years. This school was established in the undivided Bengal in 1904 to spread education in Dhaka and adjacent areas which has been spreading the light of education till today. The school started at a vast campus on around 2.5 acres of land with red brick buildings constructed in the British style. With the memory of Armenians, the school has still old stairs of wood, a gallery, a library and the Debdaru trees.
Since its establishment, Armanitola Government High School has made more than one lakh educationalists, bureaucrats, engineers, military officers, sportsmen, physicians, professionals, businessmen, politicians, artists, litterateurs, cultural personalities etc. Some alumni of this school have become renowned at home and abroad. Of them, Visva Bharati’s former vice-chancellor Amlan Dutta, world-famous structural engineer and architect Fazlur Rahman Khan, sportsman Abdus Sadeque, and renowned industrialist Bashundhara Group Chairman Ahmed Akbar Sobhan are notable. This famous educational institution has been playing an important role in the country’s sports arena.
The school offers education from class III to class X. Currently, more than two thousand students are studying here. This historical school is going to celebrate its 120th anniversary tomorrow (January 16). Two-day gala programmes have been organized marking the occasion.
British Viceroy of India George Nathaniel Curzon was the dreamer of two red buildings of the school constructed with Indo-Saracenic and Victorian architecture. In 1904, he published the education policy for the development of standards at the secondary school level. In continuation of the policy, George Nathaniel Curzon inaugurated the construction works of the two red buildings on February 19 of the same year through a citizen rally at Curzon Hall premises. The construction works were completed in 1908. Dhaka Teachers Training College and its experimental school Armanitola launched its official journey on January 6, 1909. Later, the experimental school was renamed Armanitola Government High School. Since its establishment, the school has been keeping an important role in spreading secondary education. The students of Armanitola Government High School have played crucial roles in every state movement from the language movement in 1952 to the Liberation War in 1971 and the latest July mass uprising in 2024.
The first Head Master of Armanitola Government High School was JE Whitekar. Not only in history and heritage but also the school is admirable for its quality education. This school was honoured as the best school in 1957 in the then Pakistan. After the country’s independence, the school is continuing its achievement. In 1996, Armanitola Government High School got the status of the best school at the national level.
Among the former students of this school are several heroic freedom fighters who had special contributions to the great Liberation War. Some of them are -- Air Vice Marshal (retd) Sultan Mahmud Bir Uttam, Lt Gen (retd) Mir Shawkat Ali Bir Uttam, Major General Mohammad Abul Manzur Bir Uttam, Brigadier (retd) Mohsin Uddin Ahmed Bir Bikrom, and Major (retd) Mehedi Ali Imam Bir Bikrom.
Many successful persons in various professions including education, literature, politics, and sports are former students of this school. National professor Syed Ali Ahsan, national professor Dr Rafiqul Islam, former Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) vice-chancellor Dr Muhammad Shahjahan, educationalist Dr Abdul Momin Chowdhury, former adviser to the Indian government Ashok Mitra, BNP standing committee member Abdul Moyeen Khan, BNP vice-chairman Barkatullah Bulu, poet Asad Chowdhury, Nagorik Oikya President Mahmudur Rahman Manna, popular book Masud Rana’s writer Kazi Anwar Hossain, film star Jashim and many more alumni have glorified Armanitola Government High School.
This famous educational institution has been making outstanding contributions to the country’s sports. Armanitola Government High School is called the heart of hockey in Bangladesh. Almost all the renowned hockey players of the country are alumni of Armanitola School. Many of them have won national awards. Abdus Sadeque, Mahmudur Rahman Momin, Bashir Ahmed, Pratap Hazra, Sabbir Yusuf, Abdus Salam, Khwaja Yusuf Reza, Hossain Imam Chowdhury Shanta and Jamal Haydar are the prominent hockey players of the school.
During the Mughal period, Armenians arrived in Old Dhaka. In the 18th and 19th centuries, these Armenian businessmen established their businesses and built their residences and churches here. Armanitola is named after the Armenians.
During the communal riots in Dhaka in the 1930s and 1940s, schools were also fixed for different communities. But the Armanitola School was an exception. Students of all communities studied together in this school during the days of severe communalism.
Armanitola was the centre point or elite area of Dhaka due to the location of various Brahmin societies and Brahmin temples and some of the famous Muslim and Hindu zamindar houses of East Bengal. Not only in beauty, immensity and education but also in sports and culture, the heritage of the school still exists today.
Greetings from the headmaster: On the occasion of the 120th anniversary of the school, acting headmaster Nurun Nahar extended her greetings to everyone. She told Bangladesh Pratidin that this historic school has made many talented people since its establishment. Among them are not only nationally renowned but also world-famous persons. There are some problems in the school. Efforts are underway to resolve these problems with the help of the Education Ministry.
bd-pratidin/GR
