Pabna Zila School

Pabna Zila School was established between 1836 and 1840 as an Anglo vernacular school under the initiative of Zamindar Digambar Saha. Initially, the school was located at Raghabpur on the eastern fringe of the town. Later it was shifted to Abdul Hamid Khan road of Gopalpur. The sub-divisional officers (SDO) of Pabna A. Abercrombie and FL Beaufort encouraged Digambar Saha in developing the school. The school was converted into a High English School in 1840 and the government took over its management in 1853. At this juncture, Goura Narayan was appointed as the headmaster of the school. A total of 52 teachers had served as headmasters of the school up to 2009. The institution became the best educational institute of Pabna district under their direction. The number of students rose rapidly. The number of students was 167 in 1870-71. It rose to 355 in 1920-21 and 397 in 1921-22. At present, there are around 2 thousand students in the morning and day shifts. Established on 2.95 acres of land, the school has seven buildings now; these are: administrative building, classrooms building, laboratory, hostel, residence of the headmaster, store and mosque.

The illustrious students of this school include scientist jagadish chandra BOSE, Justice GN Ray of Kolkata High Court, Zamindar Ray Banamali Ray Bahadur, Professor abu hena mostafa kamal, Chief Justice SC Lahiri of Kolkata High Court and young scientist Shamim Ahmed Alpha of NASA of the USA. The Pakistani military brutally killed a teacher of the school named Moulana Kasimuddin Ahmed for extending cooperation to the freedom fighters in 1971. The hostel of the school has been named after him. [Md Wazed Ali]