Let us take a moment to refresh our memories of our good old school through a few small but memorable incidents.
Every student’s journey begins in the Primary section, then moves on to Secondary, and finally to Higher Secondary. At the time of admission, one could choose either the Primary Morning section or the Primary Day section. I was in the Primary Morning section, and we had to report to school by 6:30 in the morning.
I was admitted directly to the Infant class in the year 1980. On my very first day at school, I forgot my aluminium box containing my books there. Later, my sister and I went back to school to collect it. And so, my student life began on a rather funny and unforgettable note.
One of the unique features of our school was that the Primary section was managed entirely by lady teachers, while the Secondary section was dominated by many “Sir‑jis” (male teachers). Another interesting peculiarity was that the school was co‑educational only up to the Primary section. After the fourth standard—the last class of Primary—our girl friends had to take vidai (transfer) to other schools.
In a way, girls from Tantia learned their first lessons of Vidai Samaroh right in their own school. During our time, the first preference for most girls was Ram Mandir ЁЯЩВЁЯЩВ—not the temple, but the school whose actual name was Seth Surajmal Jalan Balika Vidyalaya. The second preference was Shree Sikhshayatan, followed by Marwari Balika Vidyalaya. I wonder what the preferences are today—I’ll have to ask a few people! You may update this in the comments.
Just when we boys had started to understand the chemistry of friendships with girls, we were shifted to the Secondary section—without any girls. However, we gained new friends, as boys from both the Morning and Day Primary sections were merged into one class. After a few initial clashes, many of us went on to become lifelong friends.
Now comes the worst peculiarity of all. Suddenly, we students from the English‑medium Primary section became part of a Hindi‑medium Secondary school. This created many difficulties, and even today, some of us still struggle with Hindi spellings. At the same time, the English we had learned during our Primary years slowly faded away in the hardcore Hindi‑medium environment.
During our time, the school offered classes only up to Class X (Madhyamik). Today, it proudly provides education up to Class XII. One of my close friends assist Tantia High School for obtaining persmission from West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE) to start Class 11 and Class 12.
