Patha Bhavana is an institution of primary and secondary education in
Santiniketan
Santiniketan is a neighbourhood of Bolpur town in the Bolpur subdivision of Birbhum district in West Bengal, India, approximately 152 km north of Kolkata. It was established by Maharshi Devendranath Tagore, and later expanded by his son ...
,
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the four ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...
. Founded by
Nobel laureate
The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make ...
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...
in 1901, starting with only five students, the school is characterized by its philosophy of learning with the heart in closeness to nature without any superficial barriers between teachers and students, as opposed to the strict, repetitive and the
rote learning
Rote learning is a memorization technique based on repetition. The method rests on the premise that the recall of repeated material becomes faster the more one repeats it. Some of the alternatives to rote learning include meaningful learning, ...
system that was mainstream during Tagore's childhood. Often referred to as an
ashram
An ashram ( sa, आश्रम, ) is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery in Indian religions.
Etymology
The Sanskrit noun is a thematic nominal derivative from the root 'toil' (< Visva-Bharati University
Visva-Bharati () is a public central university and an Institution of National Importance located in Shantiniketan, West Bengal, India. It was founded by Rabindranath Tagore who called it ''Visva-Bharati'', which means the communion of the ...
. It is one of the two primary and secondary school affiliated with the Visva-Bharati University; the other being
Siksha Satra.
Extracurricular activities
''Sahitya Sabhas'' are literary and musical evenings, usually taking place each Tuesday, in which students share their own literary works, dance, music and short skits among themselves and with the community. The school also presents plays during the annual ''Rabindra Saptaho'', along with all other bodies of the
Visva-Bharati University
Visva-Bharati () is a public central university and an Institution of National Importance located in Shantiniketan, West Bengal, India. It was founded by Rabindranath Tagore who called it ''Visva-Bharati'', which means the communion of the ...
.
Sports are an important part of campus life. There are annual competitions in the areas of music, dance and recitation. Often, professionals in the field of sciences are invited to evenings of discussions of contemporary scientific and social issues, along with the students. There is also a yearly picnic (''Barshik Bonobhojon''), as well as excursions to parts of West Bengal, including
Bardhaman
Bardhaman (, ) is a city and a municipality in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of Purba Bardhaman district, having become a district capital during the period of British rule. Burdwan, an alternative name for the city, ...
,
Malda,
Purulia
Purulia is a city and a municipality in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Purulia district. It is located on the north of the Kangsabati River.
Geography
Location
Purulia is located at . It has an average el ...
,
Chittaranjan etc.
The school has a number of committees such as the Environment Committee ("Paribesh Bibhag"), Health Committee ("Swastho Bibhag"), Justice Committee ("Bichar bibhag"), Food Committee ("Ahar Bibhag"), Literary Committee ("Sahitya Bibhag") etc. that govern and make decisions on matters related to student body. Apart from all this the school has a number of publications. One such publication is the quarterly news-paper "Resonance", which is entirely planned and executed by the senior students of the school.
Notable alumni
*
Amartya Sen
Amartya Kumar Sen (; born 3 November 1933) is an Indian economist and philosopher, who since 1972 has taught and worked in the United Kingdom and the United States. Sen has made contributions to welfare economics, social choice theory, economi ...
, Nobel Prize-winning economist
*
Arnab, Bangladeshi musician
*
Benode Behari Mukherjee
Benode Behari Mukherjee (7 February 1904 – 11 November 1980) was an Indian artist from West Bengal state. Mukherjee was one of the pioneers of Indian modern art and a key figure of Contextual Modernism. He was one of the earliest artists in mo ...
, painter and muralist
*
Gayatri Devi
Gayatri Devi (born as Princess Gayatri Devi of Cooch Behar; 23 May 1919 − 29 July 2009) was the third Maharani consort of Jaipur from 1940 to 1949 through her marriage to Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II. Following her husband's signature for t ...
, Maharani of Jaipur
*
Indira Gandhi, Late Prime Minister of India
*
Kanika Bandyopadhyay, Rabindrasangeet musician
*
Ramkinkar Baij
Ramkinkar Baij ( bn, রামকিঙ্কর বেইজ) (25 May 1906 – 2 August 1980) was an Indian sculptor and painter, one of the pioneers of modern Indian sculpture and a key figure of Contextual Modernism.
Early life and ...
, Sculptor, Fine Arts
*
Shantideb Ghosh, Rabindrasangeet singer
*
Sudhi Ranjan Das
Sudhi Ranjan Das (1 October 1894 – 18 September 1977) was the 5th Chief Justice of India, serving from 1 February 1956 to 30 September 1959. Das also served as chairman of '' The Statesman''.
Background and education
S.R. Das was born in ...
, ex-Chief Justice of India - one of the first 5 students of Rabindranath Tagore at Patha-Bhavana (Brhmacharyashram).
*
Rathindranath Tagore
Rathindranath Thakur (anglicised as Rathindranath Tagore, 27 November 1888 – 3 June 1961) was an Indian educationist, agronomist and painter. He served as the first vice-chancellor of Visva-Bharati University, which was founded by his fathe ...
, Founder-Vice Chancellor, Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan
*
Pramathanath Bishi, author, educationist, and parliamentarian.
*
Shivani, well known Hindi writer and Padma Shri award winner.
*
Sujit Barman Roy, former Chief Justice of Orissa High Court
See also
*
Birbhum
Birbhum district () is an administrative unit in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the northernmost district of Burdwan division—one of the five administrative divisions of West Bengal. The district headquarters is in Suri. Other impor ...
*
Education in India
Education in India is primarily managed by state-run public education system, which fall under the command of the government at three levels: central, state and local. Under various articles of the Indian Constitution and the Right of Ch ...
*
Education in West Bengal
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. V ...
References
External links
*
Primary schools in West Bengal
High schools and secondary schools in West Bengal
Visva-Bharati University
Birbhum district
Educational institutions established in 1901
1901 establishments in British India
Boarding schools in West Bengal
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