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PRESS RELEASE
200-year-old high school building in a small
Bangladeshi town Kotchandpur built and owned by Scotsmen Mr.
New House and Macleod's is about to fall victim to nature's
doing for lack of repairs
Ashraf Ali, D.Sc.
Former student of Kotchandpur High School (1966 - 1971)
Turn back your clock about 200 years in
early 1800 in a remote village of Bengal called Kotchandpur.
This area was in united Bengal under the British rule,
became East Bengal after the division of Bengal by Viceroy
Lord Curzon in 1905, became East Pakistan after the
independence and division of India into India and Pakistan
in 1947, and then became Bangladesh after its independence
in 1971 from West Pakistan, which is now Pakistan.
Originally from Scotland, Mr. New House came to Kotchandpur
on behalf of East India Company to conduct the indigo
cultivation and harvest activities of this area. Later on,
Mr. New House built a number of buildings in this area in
order to facilitate his sugar and coal business. Kotchandpur
high school, which was established in 1899, has been using
the building in question as its main building since 1959.
After Mr. New House passed away, the three sons of his
only daughter (1) Edward George Macleod, (2) James Macleod,
and (3) H. C. Macleod came to Kotchandpur as they inherited
the properties as the descendants of their grandfather Mr.
New House. Their father�s name was J. S. Macleod.
Another Mr. Eric was originally from Australia. The house
he lived in around Kotchandpur was later known as the house
of Mr. Shadhu, who owned and lived in the house with his
family not that long ago. The youngest son of Mr. Shadhu is
present writer�s contemporary � just to give you an idea.
This house has now been demolished. It is known that when
business climate started dwindling, Mr. Eric first left for
Calcutta (now spelled as Kolkata) and from there on to
Australia.
On the south side of the canal of adjacent village
Solemanpur there stood a house right on the Kabadak River,
known as the �Boro Shaheb Bari�. �Boro� means �big�,
�Shaheb� means �Mr.�, and �Bari� means �house�. The house
came to be so named after the eldest son H. C. Macleod, who
lived and died in this house. �Boro Shaheb Bari� has now
been destroyed. It is known that not very far from this
house near the side of a house owned by Mr. Kazi Abdur
Sattar Chhanu lies the grave of H. C. Macleod in unmarked
and unprotected condition.
In addition to owning sugar and coal business, H.C.
Macleod was also a landlord at the same time. It is
generally assumed that faced with dwindling business
climate, many British, Scottish and other foreigners sold
their land-lordships and left the country before the Second
World War around the year 1930. Others left around 1952,
first for Kolkata and from there on to Scotland.
Notably, Kotchandpur was promoted to become a municipal
town in 1884 with the efforts of Edward George Macleod. Out
of the three Macleod brothers, James Macleod was the only
one who was married. James Macleod�s son Harold Macleod was
the Postmaster General of the then All India.
The building in question was built as a dwelling along
with adjacent service buildings. These adjacent properties
have slowly vanished. The building, known as �Chhoto Shaheb
Bari� (�Chhoto� means �little� or �youngest�) in this
locality, almost on the verge of falling apart today, has
been used as the main building of Kotchandpur high school
since 1959. The Vice President of the then school managing
committee Mr. Abdul Mannan Sardar took strong initiatives to
restore this building and its adjacent areas, again to be
used as the main school office and classrooms and for other
school programs. The initiatives did not go far because of
lack of funding.
The building is 80 ft X 70 ft, two-storied, with 14
rooms. It was constructed with brick, wood, sand, and mortar
and is built on 11 acres of beautifully landscaped land
situated on the Kabadak River.
Current condition of the building - upstairs roof has
extensive cracks leaking water, the walls have cracked in
many places, the ceiling beams and cross-beams have been
heavily damaged due to decay and can collapse any time, the
wall plasters have fallen off, the doors and windows are
either destroyed or do not work, the railings all around the
building balconies have been destroyed.
It was mentioned in the beginning that the present write
is a former student of this school. It is heart breaking to
see the school building where thousands of students like
myself received high school education is falling apart. More
than that, this is the last standing building, testimony to
the legacy and more than 200-year history of this place.
There is still time to save the building with financial
assistance from everyone who cares to help.
The present school authority estimates it would take
about 50,000 US dollars to fully restore the building. If
you would like to help, you could contribute to the
Kotchandpur High School Building Restoration Fund of
Bangladesh Development Initiative (BDI
www.bdiusa.org), a
US-based registered tax-exempt non-profit organization, and
send your check to (payable to BDI): BDI, 15160 SE 54th
Place, Bellevue, WA 98006, USA. Contact Dr. Ashraf Ali at
admin@bdiusa.org for
further questions on this project.
Here are some images showing current conditions of the
school building:
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