Metropolitan Institution (Main) for Girls at Sankar Ghosh Lane is all set to open its doors for English medium students from the new 2024 academic session. The heritage school, which has from Class V to X, will continue with its Bengali medium as well. Metropolitan Institution Main was set up by Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar in 1864 and the girls section started a few years later. The school got its recognition in 1949 from Calcutta University.

The school, adjacent to Vidyasagar College, also has plans to start Classes XI and XII soon and be a Higher Secondary school soon. Bipasha Banerjee, headmistress, Metropolitan Institution Main for Girls, said, “The school was founded in 1864.The girls section was started much later as during that time not many girls came forward for education.

But Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar wanted girls to get educated.” While falling enrollment is a common peril for many of the Bengali-medium schools, residents in the locality had been pressing the school management to start its English medium classes as well. “This, they said, would help them send their wards to enrol here.

The process for starting English medium started in January 2020 and the permission arrived in 2023. We are also in the process of getting the permission for Classes 11 and Class 12. We have moved the papers to the HS council,” said the headmistress.

The institution with its four-story building also has many classes where the new students can be accommodated, informed teachers of the school. “Maximum teachers in our school are from English medium background and are adept in teaching in both the mediums. The board and government allowed us after checking our infrastructure.

There are also sufficient classrooms,” said Miss Banerjee. The school has already started with its admission process for the new session in English and the response has been very good, said the teachers.

The school has a rich history with its association with Swami Vivekananda and Vidyasagar. Narendranath Dutta (later Swami Vivekananda) not only studied in the school but also taught at the institute. In 1864, the society was in turmoil as child marriage child marriage was common occurrence.

Vidyasagar had proposed that women’s education needs to be strengthened. He wanted girls to get Western education. Teachers feel blessed to be part of a school which has such a legacy and there is great respect for Vidyasagar’s ideals.

They are committed and devoted to teaching the great social reformer, said the headmistress. The school also lays great emphasis on yoga and meditation. It also teaches martial arts as a self-defence mechanism. Girls also are taught spoken English, handicrafts, recitation classes apart from the syllabus.