SAMBALPUR: Former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam will inaugurate the 150th anniversary celebration of Chandrasekhar Behera Zilla School here on Saturday. The alumni of the school are leaving no stone unturned to make it a grand affair.
Established in 1850 as an anglo-vernacular school, it was brought under Government patronage in 1852 and taken over by Director of Public Instructions, Bengal and managed by a local committee of education in 1856. From this stage, it went through different developments and renaming processes till 1927, when it was shifted to GM College campus and known as Sambalpur Zilla School. The step to shift the school to the college campus was taken with an aim to accommodate more students and open a Girls’ High School in the core area of the township.
The school also served as Odisha Secretariat for a temporary period during World War II.
In 1952, the school was renamed after Chandrasekhar Behera, a former teacher of the school, an eminent freedom fighter and social reformer. It was shifted to the present building in 1954.
Many prominent persons of the State are alumni of the school. Some of them are Additional Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, PK Mishra; first principal of SCB Medical College, Cuttack, Rai Saheb Sanatan Pujari; geophysicist Lalatendu Mansingh and former diplomat Lalit Mansingh.