ULANIA CORONATION HIGH SCHOOL

Henry Beveridge, B.C.S., Magistrate and Collector of Bakarganj, in his book, “The District of Bakarganj : Its “History and Statistics”, published from London in the year 1876 remarked: ‘The peasants do not care for education; and besides, they need their children to gather their betelnuts, to row their boats, and above all, to herd their cattle.’ And hence, education in the region was in a very backward state at that time. Though the scenario of the education sector was in such a state, at the same time in a remote village, ‘Ulania’, of present day Mehendiganj upazila, district of Barisal, the the then Zamindar Chowdhury family of the region had established a Primary School and a Moktab there. But, as there were no other institution for any further higher education nearby, parents had to send their children to cities like Dhaka and Kolkata after taking education there. But, that was possible only for the boys of the Zamindar family and the well off people of the locality. The poor subjects were unable to afford this. To overcome the situation and help to spread education among the poor subjects also, the Primary School was raised toM. E. School (Middle English School) by the founders in 1901. The Moktab also was raised to Junior Madrasa. In the year 1911, a number of young members of the Chowdhury Family again took the initiative. They cleared their own betel nut garden and started the school in a wider sphere. The M.E. School was upgraded to High School. That was the time of British Colonial rule : The British Raj. In a grandiose and majestic manner, the coronation ceremony of King George V and Queen Mary was held in the capital Delhi in 1911. To keep the memory of the grand event live, as done in many other schools of the sub-continent, the founders of the school named it as ‘Ulania Coronation High EnglishSchool’. That was in 1912. At that time, the total value of the land and the construction of the building was around Rs.50, 000. During the Zamindari period, the affairs and expenditure of the school was looked after and met from the Joint-Estate. The President and Secretary of the school were Moulavi Abdul Azhar Chowdhury and Moulavi Mohammad Isahaq Chowdhury. Moulabi islam chowdhury,abdul latif chowdhury,moulabi abdul kader chowdhury, Afterwards, interested and well-off people of the locality also came forward. With the joint effort of all, the school got a strong base and moved on smoothly. As at that time there weren't many educational institutions, students from the distant places used to come to Ulania and stayed here for higher studies.