The Alfred High School (also known as Mohandas Gandhi High School) in
Rajkot
Rajkot () is the fourth-largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat after Ahmedabad, Vadodara, and Surat, and is in the centre of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat. Rajkot is the 35th-largest metropolitan area in India, with a population ...
is one of the oldest educational institutions in India today.
History
This school was constructed during
British rule
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was hims ...
in India by political agent Kernel Singh, and was the first English school in the
saurashtra (region)
Saurashtra, also known as Sorath or Kathiawar, is a peninsular region of Gujarat, India, located on the Arabian Sea coast. It covers about a third of Gujarat state, notably 11 districts of Gujarat, including Rajkot District. It was formerly a ...
. Originally called ''Rajkot English School'', it was founded on 17 October 1853, and later became a full-fledged high school. By 1868 it came to be known as ''Rajkot High School'', and was named Alfred High School in 1907. The present buildings of the Alfred High School were built for
Kathiawar
Kathiawar () is a peninsula, near the far north of India's west coast, of about bordering the Arabian Sea. It is bounded by the Gulf of Kutch in the northwest and by the Gulf of Khambhat (Gulf of Cambay) in the east. In the northeast, i ...
by the
Nawab of Junagadh, Nawab Nawab Sir Muhammad
Bahadur Khanji Babi, and was named
Prince Alfred, the
Duke of Edinburgh
Duke of Edinburgh, named after the city of Edinburgh in Scotland, was a substantive title that has been created three times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not prod ...
, as a memorial. This school was opened in January, 1875 by
Sir Philip Wodehouse,
Governor of Bombay
Until the 18th century, Bombay consisted of seven islands separated by shallow sea. These seven islands were part of a larger archipelago in the Arabian sea, off the western coast of India. The date of city's founding is unclear—historians tr ...
.
Mohandas Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...
graduated from Rajkot High School in 1887 at age 18.
Accounts vary on Gandhi's time at the school.
Several accounts suggest he was a quiet and academically unremarkable student who did not participate in sports or extracurricular activities.
[ However, Rajmohan Gandhi suggests that this view comes from a misreading of his "self-deprecating" autobiography.][ Out of 38 students who had passed the high school entrance examination, Gandhi was one of only two students in his year to matriculate. Following graduation Gandhi enrolled at the ]Samaldas College
Samaldas Arts College or Samaldas College is a college in Bhavnagar, Gujarat, India. It was founded in 1885 by Takhtsinhji, the Maharaja of Bhavnagar State in memory of his Diwan (minister) Samaldas Paramananddas Mehta. It is one of the oldest ...
in Bhavnagar
Bhavnagar is a city in the Bhavnagar district of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, a state of India. It was founded in 1723 by Bhavsinhji Takhtasinhji Gohil (1703–1764). It was the capital of Bhavnagar State, which was a princely state ...
, where he stayed for one term before travelling to London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
.[
Following ]India's independence
The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947.
The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged from Bengal. ...
in 1947, the school was renamed the "Mohandas Gandhi High School" in honour of Gandhi.Colonial Tour of RMC
", Retrieved on 26 December 2007
In 2017, the school was closed and announced that it will be converted into museum.
Notable alumni
* S. R. Rana
Sardarsinhji Ravaji Rana (1870–1957), often abbreviated S. R. Rana, was an Indian political activist, founding member of the Paris Indian Society and the vice-president of the Indian Home Rule Society..
Biography
Sardarsinhji Rana was born on ...
, Indian political activist
See also
* The Rajkumar College
References
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Education in Rajkot
High schools and secondary schools in Gujarat
Educational institutions established in 1853
Schools in Colonial India
Boys' schools in India
1853 establishments in India
Government schools in India
Schools in the princely states of India