Ranchi, Nov. 11: When filmmaker Prakash Jha, an alumnus of Sainik School, Tilaiya, visits his alma mater next time, he might face problem in identifying his school “house”.

For the names of 12 student houses and two holding houses of the prestigious school in Tilaiya is set to change .

“We are going to change the names of all 12 houses and two holding houses on November 15, the Statehood Day. At present, the houses are named after some place or personality of Bihar. But as we now live in Jharkhand, the school has decided to change the names,” said Captain Mahesh Kandpal, the principal of Sainik School.

The school administration has already shortlisted 14 names, Birsa Munda, Jaipal Singh Munda, Neelambar, Peetambar, Sidho, Kanho, Damodar, Swarnarekha, Sankh, Koel, Parasnath, Baidyanath, Tilka Manjhi and Albert Ekka, names of tribal icons, freedom fighters, rivers and religious tourist destinations of the state.

When the school was opened in 1963, the houses were named after Aryabhatta, Gautam, Mourya, Ashoka, Vikram, Nalanda, Rajgir, Pataliputra, Vaishali, Magadh, Luv and Kush. Besides two holding houses were for students admitted into Class VI.

Admission to the school is restricted to Class VI and IX only through an all-India written entrance examination. So, what is there in a name? A lot, as the idea to change the names of houses was raised by human resource development department minister Bandhu Tirkey.

“During his recent visit to the school, Tirkey raised the issue asking the management the need to change the names of houses in the present context,” said a senior faculty member.

Kandpal thinks that altering the names of houses is a small and internal matter and it would be better if the school develops more associations with the state. Such is the state of affairs that a senior faculty asked: “Who is Neelambar and Pitambar, Sidho and Kanho and for that matter Jaipal Singh Munda?”

But another faculty endorsed the school management’s decision to change the names as it would enable the masses to know about the state’s history. Meanwhile, the state government has already send a fresh proposal to Union ministry of defence, requesting to open another Sainik School in Gumla.

“We are waiting for a positive response from the ministry,” said human resource development department secretary J.B. Tubid.