Ever since my birth my life has been an eventful and journey of struggle and I would like to take this opportunity to share a few things about myself. I was born on the auspicious day of “Mahalaya” (the occasion that heralds the advent of goddess Durga) in 1962. My father, who had left my pregnant mother to marry another woman, didn’t even bother to come visit his newborn daughter. So, I was brought up at my maternal uncle’s. My grandfather, the only sensible person in the family, was also the only one who genuinely took interest in my well-being. Others were too indifferent to spare time caring for me. I grew up being treated like the unwanted burden. I wouldn’t have gone to school if it weren’t for my kind-hearted neighbor who took the initiative to enroll me into the local primary school. She also taught me how to read and write in just a single day while another neighbor provided the hand-me-down supplies and books. My grandmother however, had other plans for me and it included learning all the household stuff like doing the laundry or the dishes. My school became my only escape and my gateway to light. I liked studying and always came first in my class. Seeing my progress, I was promoted to class IV directly from class II by the Headmaster. I also qualified for the “National Scholarship” when I was in class VIII. It was the same time when my grandmother would try to marry me into a local family. But, I was resilient. With utter determination, I graduated college (B.Sc Hons. in Physics) and got a teaching job in the same higher secondary (H.S.) school that I studied in.
After nearly five years into my job at the Dumkal B. T. High School, in 1992, I felt the need of a decent primary school in my locality. Although, the real reason behind this was to provide a reasonable early education to my daughter. After a lot of resistance from the locals, I was able to start a primary (and pre-primary) school in Dumkal (Murshidabad, West Bengal, India) and named it the “Dumkal Shishu Niketan” (Dumkul School for Children). My daughter, who was one the very first students of the school is now pursuing her decorate degree in Physics abroad. The school started out in my house, on my front yard and I would be the teacher for English, Mathematics, Science, Drawing & Songs, and Physical Training. So, everyday, I would teach at “Sishu Niketan” in the morning and then teach at B. T. H. S. from 11 am, where I was an
assistant teacher in Physics. It took me a while to get a separate building for “Shushu Niketan” and I even had to bear the cost of building the first few rooms, but, within three months “shishu Niketan” had a fully functional building on a leased ground. Currently, it has grown into an all-encompassing organization with nearly 1500 pupils with classes from nursery to VIII.
After 17 years of my Bachelor’s degree, in 2000, I passed M. Sc. in physics with 55% marks from Vidyasagar University. And, after both my children graduated High School, in 2012, I completed M. Sc. in Applied Psychology and M.A. in Education from two different Universities.
I left Dumkal B. T. H. S. and joined as the Headmistress of Sagardighi Girls’ High School (Musrshidabad, West Bengal, India) in 2004. It is at that time when I started actively working against early marriage of young girls and corruption. I brought about many positive changes in the school including new buildings and restoring the existing construction. I came to experience the dark side of illiteracy and poverty very closely while working in Sagardighi. It is only then that I began voicing my opinion against early marriage among young girls, school dropouts and corruption. I planted two Arkeria sprouts in front of the permanent dais and named the “Joy” and “Peace”. On 5th September for three consecutive years (2007-2009), I arranged to distribute saree and food items among 40 local poor families. Even though my stint at Sagardighi was just for five years, I was able to contribute towards significant progress of the school that I never thought would be possible.
In 2008, I attended a 35-day (May-June) long peace education training, organized by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) in New Delhi, where I met the then Director of NCERT, prof. Krishna Kumar. He’s a renowned psychologist and writer who opened our eyes to see Rabindranath, Vivekananda, Gandhiji, and Lord Buddha as educationists and founders of peace. It was undoubtedly the most enlightening period of my life that helped reshape my outlook.
I was awarded the “Rajiv Gandhi Shiromani” award in 2009 in New Delhi, by the national Integration and Economic Council. The same year, I joined as the Headmistress of Binodini Girls’ High School (BGHS) (Kolkata, West Bengal, India). Even though it took me some time to get accustomed to the pulse of a metro city, I feel at home here. And very recently, in a groundbreaking movement, the primary section has been integrated into secondary section to form an Integrated Government Sponsored Institution, marking a milestone in the history of our school. Back in 2009 when I joined BGHS, the number of students was roughly 750. The number has now increased to 1200 and after the integration, it is expected to reach a whopping 1800. There has been a wave of progress and reform in my present institution and I would like to share the most memorable ones.
Since 2013, BGHS has been bagging the First, Second or the Third prize at the district level “science Fair and Model Show”, held in BITM, Kolkata. In 2013, defeating the “Loreto House, Sealdah” in a tough competition, our school was rewarded the “Shishu Mitra” title. Moreover, our school came 3rd in the “Best Eco Club” event in terms of its service to Kanyashree Prakalpa, in 2013 and came 1st in the same in 2017. According to Bikramshila Education Resource Society, our school is the best in Kolkata in terms of career counseling, career hub, communicating in English and IT classes. Following that, in 2017, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) Principal Secretary Mr. Anil Swarup visited our school. It was a remarkable day in the history of our school as several other influential people were present at the same time, including Dushant Narial, the Principal Secretary to W.B Govt. School Edu. Dept, D.I of schools (S.E.), D.I . of schools (P.E.), chairman of Kolkata Primary School Edu. (KPSE), chairman of Sarva Siksha Mission (SSE) and the chairman of Rashtriya Madhyamik Siksha Abhiyan (RMSA). Though BGHS is in the heart of a metro city, there’s a socio-economic imbalance that is quite prominent among the pupils. Despite the disparity in the social status among the students, I was able to restore stability in terms of the board exam results, in the last few years. In 2012, a fellow student named Puja Sarkar was ranked first in the state from the Commerce Stream in the Higher Secondary Exam. In 2016, Moumita Kamila came 13th in the state from the Commerce Stream in the Higher Secondary Exam. Every year, I host an awareness campaign in my school where I
discuss on health and hygiene, breast cancer etc. in the presence of my students and their mothers. I have installed two vending machines henceforth, one in 2013 and another in 2015. A water cooler has also been in use since 2013. As of now, we have 3 SMART classrooms in the school, one of which can now be accessed by the primary section as well. Along with much other advancement, the number of computer labs has also increased to 3. Information Communication Tool (ICT) training is in full swing using the K-Yan machine. Result of NMMS at class VIII has been promisingly rising, from 5 out of 10 in 2013 to 16 out of 18 in 2018. It should be noted that this year, it was the highest number of students from one school (475 students from 500 schools). As of today, 24 different subjects are taught in the H.S. level, among which “Journalism and mass Communication”, “Sociology”, CLPA and “Business Studies” were introduced in 2015 or onwards. I was the Physical Science head examiner for West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) for 3 years and have been the Physics Head Examiner since 2015 for the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE). I understand the profound responsibility that is entitled with my job and I aim to make further progress while ensuring the proper care and love for my students.
It should be noted that I started the “Dumkal Centre” of National Science Society in 1987 and the “Dumkal Centre” of National Science Society in 2005 and the center at BGHS in 2010. All the centres are still thriving.
I have published several articles in many local Magazines. I also authored a Text Book of Physical Science for 7th standard in 2006.
I received the “Siksharatna Award” by the government of West Bengal and the “Dronacharya Award” by ABP and Peerless, in 2018. But if I can inspire my students to be sensible citizens of the world by instilling independent thinking and a sense of social responsibilities in them, it would be much more rewarding to me.
For that, I, with the help of my students, have planted several trees around the school building and have also grown an indoor vertical garden. We have campaigned for in our locality for mass awareness against the use of crackers, before “Deepavali”. To promote social awareness in my students, I not only posted newspapers on the walls but also
arranged for a 10-minute read of the daily headlines before tiffin-break that every student listens to in silence. As a recognition of our overall performance and academic results, or school was awarded the “Academic Excellence Award” in 2019 by the Telegraph Education Foundation. As part of the “Ulto pother panchali” project, the students of class XI visit the All Bengal Womens’ Old-age Home regularly to give the residents there some much needed company. We invite the residents frequently to our school in various ceremonies, and to make their commute easier, we arrange for buses to and from our school. This initiative has made our students, as well as the residents there, much more active and involved in the society.
By inspiring our students with these extracurricular projects, in 2019 we won the first place amongst about 200 other schools in Kolkata in Saraswati Puja.
One is defined by ones work and I strive to serve others through my work. I have been blessed with the wonderful support from the parents of my students. I believe, by doing my job I’m serving the Almighty. I have a vision to see thousands of girls morph into responsible and independent citizens of India. My name is Dipanwita, which means the possessor of light and I strive to hold it true, everyday.
