Raiganj Coronation High School. Picture by Nantu Dey

Raiganj, May 18: The state school education department has granted permission to Raiganj Coronation High School to open an English-medium wing for science and commerce students in the Higher Secondary stream, fulfilling a long-standing wish of the local people.

The school was established in 1911, the year King George V was enthroned in Britain. Along with the Raiganj school, 14 other institutions in the state, including four in Calcutta, have been given the same go-ahead by the department.

Subhendu Mukherjee, the head master of the school, said the timing of the permission coincided with the centenary celebrations of the school. “Our students figure prominently on the merit list of the secondary and Higher Secondary results. We are proud to get this recognition.”

To ensure that meritorious students do well in competitive exams after Higher Secondary, the school authorities have been lobbying for the English-medium wing for the past 12 years, Mukherjee said. “Last year, a team of officials from the department had inspected our infrastructure and we received the permission last month.”

He said the governing body of the school sat with the teachers and decided to start the new wing from the next academic session beginning middle of June. “The seats for the Bengali-medium will remain the same. We are starting a separate section where English will be the medium of instruction and we will take only 30 students for the science stream. The students seeking admission to Class XI will be given an option, but we will select the batch for the English medium after interviewing the candidates,” Mukherjee said.

Local book dealers have been apprised of the development and the school library has been adequately stocked with English textbooks. “The teachers will have no problem teaching in English,” he said.

A former student of the school and currently the pathologist of the district hospital, Sanjoy Dey, said after he wrote his Higher Secondary exams in Bengali he found it difficult to follow lectures in English during his initial days in medical college. “I am glad that the permission has been granted.”