The PS Dhanuka school in its new avatar. Picture by UB Photos

June 27: A 54-year-old exclusive female bastion in the city is set to pass into the pages of history.

Established in 1951, the P.S. Dhanuka Balika Vidyalaya, on Kedar Road, has not only been re-christened P.S. Dhanuka English Higher Secondary School but has also opened its doors to boys.

The school ? set up with the objective of providing education to Hindi-speaking girls when co-education was taboo ? will enrol its first batch of male students for higher secondary first year classes from the session starting July. The second lot will be taken in in January when the new academic session for schools gets under way.

Confirming the twin developments, principal Raju Agarwal said that the change was in tune with the times. “It was a tough call, but then certain changes are inevitable. Since the school had met its avowed objective, it would be only wise to reinvent itself as a co-educational institution. These are being increasingly preferred by parents and guardians as they foster all-round social development of the students.”

The management of the four-storey school, with about 450 students on its rolls, took the decision to enrol boys at its executive meeting in April. Says S.S. Harlalka, secretary of the school managing committee, “There was a general consensus that co-ed was acceptable. Girl students from the Hindi community had started getting themselves enrolled in other co-educational institutions and were doing well for themselves.”

Optimal utilisation of the existing infrastructure and faculty too had prompted this switch. The school is run with the fees collected from students and donations from well-wishers. However, in the last session there were only 12 girls in the HS classes. The school has around 25 large rooms and an auditorium. “Given our infrastructure, we can easily take in around a thousand students. We are hopeful that by going co-ed our student strength will improve, especially in the Plus Two level.”

The other important decision, according to Harlalka, was the introduction of courses on fine arts, dance, drama and music. Also in the pipeline is the introduction of vocational courses such as knitting, embroidery and cooking, the principal added.