Smita's Kolkata Chronicles

  "Vidya Vindatey Amritam" ... Knowledge provides immortal bliss.  The establishment of Bethune School and later Bethune College marked the dawn of a new era of women empowerment.  Women's schooling began in Bengal in the 1820s in response to development of women education in the West. In 1818, missionary named Robert May, established a girls' school in Chinsurah. The Calcutta School Society was founded in 1818. In 1819, the Female Juvenile Society was formed for the 'establishment and support of Bengali Female Schools'. By 1823, the Juvenile Society was operating 8 girls' school in and around Calcutta.  On 7th May 1849 , Sir John Elliott Drinkwater Bethune , started the Calcutta Female School . His school was at first named as Hindu Balika Vidyalaya.  The school initially started its journey from the house of Raja Dakshinaranjan Mukhopadhyay at 56 Sukia Street. It was later renamed Bethune School . Only daughters from 'respectable' Hindu families

Kalimpong -  The Chitrabhanu is situated at the Chhibo Slum under Kalimpong sub-division of Kalimpong district. The area was dear to Rabindranath Tagore but the house was not constructed during his lifetime. After one year from the death of Rabindranath Tagore, his son Rathindranath Tagore took the land on lease for 90 years. The leasing was made on 12 March 1942 in the name of his wife, Pratima Devi. The construction of the house was completed in the year 1943. It was named as Chitrabhanu after the name of the studio of Rathindranath Thakur at Shantiniketan. In 1964, the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education acquired the property and established a Crafts Training Centre for Women here. Later, a Centre for Technical Education was established here under a joint initiative of Individual and Government of West Bengal. It was damaged by an earthquake In 2018, the West Bengal Heritage Commission declared Chitrabhanu as a heritage. Reference:  https://wbhc.in/home/place_details/ Date of