Mitra Institution in Bhowanipore, where Syama Prasad Mookerjee studied more than a century ago, could be on Union home minister Amit Shah’s itinerary on Monday, the Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder’s 125th birth anniversary.

Syama Prasad enrolled at Mitra Institution, Bhowanipore, in 1901 and passed his matriculation exam in 1917. His father, Ashutosh Mookerjee, was associated with the school’s management in its early years. Both later served as presidents of its managing committee.

The school building was getting a fresh coat of paint on Friday, with the Kolkata Municipal Corporation cleaning the guardrails along the pavement outside and replacing damaged paver blocks.

Teachers said they hoped the attention would translate into state funding for repairs, renovation and expansion of academic activities. Parts of the building have leaking ceilings, a teacher said.

A senior state government official said Shah will visit Syama Prasad’s ancestral house on Monday.

A daily schedule posted by state municipal affairs minister Agnimitra Paul, who visited the school on Friday, said she was inspecting the campus “with regards to upcoming visit by Hon’ble Union Home Minister Sri Amit Shah” to Calcutta. She later deleted the post and uploaded a revised version that omitted any reference to Shah’s visit.

The former student’s portrait has traditionally been garlanded at the school every year on July 6, a teacher said.

“We have always celebrated the birth anniversary of Syama Prasad, though this year the celebrations will have a bigger scale. We have been told that the chief minister will come to our school. We have a few recitals and possibly some of dignitaries will speak on Syama Prasad,” headmaster Raja Dey said.

The main building on Harish Mukherjee Road, next to Harish Park, is where Syama Prasad studied. The school also has an annexe building, where classes began in 1960.

Balraj Madhok, former BJP MP and biographer of the leader, wrote in Portrait of a Martyr that Syama Prasad “passed his matriculation examination from Mitter Institute at the age of sixteen with a scholarship” and joined Presidency College.

Headmaster Dey said the former student “received a scholarship of ₹10”.

Madhok, who worked alongside Syama Prasad when the Jana Sangh, the political predecessor of the BJP, was formed, wrote that Ashutosh “inspired his friend Shri Bisheshwar Mitter to open his Mitter Institute where Shyama Prasad and his brothers got their early schooling”.

Ashutosh “personally supervised the arrangements in the school and kept a vigilant eye on the progress of his sons”, the book says.

The 121-year-old Mitra Institution, Bhowanipore, has produced leaders across the political spectrum. Former Lok Sabha Speaker and long-time CPM MP Somnath Chatterjee studied at the school. Former Bengal chief minister and Congress leader Siddhartha Shankar Ray was also an alumnus.