An under-construction three-storeyed building that will house the new English-medium school. Picture by Surajit Roy

Malda, Dec. 17: The Ramakrishna Mission will open its first English-medium school in north Bengal next year, if the state education department gives it the necessary clearances and affiliation with its secondary board and higher secondary council.

The Mission already runs a Bengali-medium boys’ school in Malda with around 800 students. The plan is to add an English-medium wing to Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Vidyamandir.

Swami Dibyananda Maharaj, the secretary of the Ramakrishna Mission’s ashram here, said the governing body of Vivekananda Vidyamandir took the decision when it met on December 12.

“We have written to the school education department to grant affiliation to the new institution and send us teachers. If they do that soon, then we will start with Classes V and VI from the next academic year,” Swami Dibyananda said.

The school building is almost complete, the secretary added. In the Bengali-medium wing, Classes XI and XII have been running since 2005.

Swami Dibyananda said the idea of setting up an English-medium school came after a flood of requests from residents of the town. “Also people with transferable jobs who are posted here have been asking us for this facility.”

The other thing that went in favour of the plan is that the state, too, has now made a policy decision to give clearance to government-aided English-medium schools.

The new school promises to help students of the region overcome their language problems.

“There are many who do not get good jobs because they have not learnt to speak in English. This is true even for students who pass out of Vivekananda Vidyamandir, where the medium of instruction is Bengali. The English-medium school will solve the problem,” said the secretary.