Katna, June 5: A dream one man nurtured over the years came true today as this remote village in Murshidabad got a school that it could never dream of on its own.

But when Jagriti Public School, an English-medium institution for the poor that would some day offer up to Class XII, opened today, Jugnu Ramaswami was not there.

The freelance journalist-philanthropist died of a heart attack on May 3 while interviewing teachers for his project. His sister Sonia Dhingra inaugurated the school.

Ramaswami came from Delhi to Katna ? the village, about 250 km from Calcutta, where his father- in-law Kazi Aziz Ahmed lived ? in 1998 with children’s education in mind. With wife Shabnam, his mission became to provide Katna ? a village with one primary school, three teachers and over 100 students ? a window to the world.

In 1998, the couple started a Bengali-medium primary school ?classes I-IV ? but soon realised that the students were finding it difficult to secure admission to government-aided high schools from a private primary school.

Armed with his experience of starting a school for street children in Delhi in 1991 and loads of determination, Ramaswami embarked on the project to build a full-fledged school himself. After his death, Shabnam rose from mourning to pick up the pieces.

“Once in Katna, we realised the need for English- medium education. With the help of friends and well-wishers, we constructed the school building. But, my husband could not see this day,” said Shabnam, the principal of Jagriti Public School.

It has received CBSE affiliation and can offer up to Class X.

The public school, primarily for the underprivileged, started with KG-I, KG-II, Class I and Class II.

On Day I, there were 160 students ? 40 in each class. Many of them were from neighbouring Burwan, Khargram and Kandi. Firoz Hossain from Tarapith in Birbhum has also got his son admitted. He has rented a house at nearby Kuli village in the hope of providing his son a brighter future.

Shabnam said: “We will provide free education to 20 per cent of our students. They will also be provided books and uniform.” The rest will be charged a monthly fee of Rs 350.

“We had received hundreds of applications. But we decided not to take over 40 students in a class,” she added.

Ten teachers have been appointed besides eight non-teaching staff. Two of the teachers are from Delhi, two from Calcutta and the rest from Murshidabad. They will get free accommodation and salary between Rs 4,000 and Rs 5,000.

“We are aware of Ramaswami’s mission to make good human beings out of his students. We want to dedicate ourselves to his ideals,” said Azizul Haque, the Bengali teacher, a resident of Katna.

The school is likely to run a deficit of Rs 50,000 a month which, Shabnam said, a “well-wisher” in Delhi will make up for.