It was 1955 - the year of the Diamond Jubilee - when I joined the Victoria School. The then Headmaster, Mr. Robert Martin Muir, was a Scotsman.

It was with a feeling of awe and excitement that I joined this Institution,

I was given a rousing reception by the students of the School who had keenly felt the long absence of a Physical Instructor and Games Master. Mr. A. J, Rodrigues, the Steward of the School, was the man who received me at the Gate and showed me my quarters which were just below the school field.

The next person I happened to meet was Mr. P, C. Gupta, the then Head Clerk of the School. He expressed his joy when he saw that an Indian had joined the staff of the School. Most of the members of the staff at that time were Europeans and Anglo-Indians. Among the Indian members mention may be made of Mr. Motin Roy, Science Master, the late Brojen Bhattacharjee, Bengali Master and Mr. U. K. Mondal, the History Master. I also remember being greatly surprised that the Senior Cambridge boys were very big in age and size - certainly much older and bigger than the present boys.

On the Speech Day in 1955, the Diamond Jubilee year, His Excellency, the Governor of West Bengal, Dr. H. C. Mookerjee told us in his speech that the policy of the Government was to close such a school after the attainment of independence. But as an educationist, he had impressed upon the Government the importance of the existence of such an English-medium and residential school in our State. It was from that time that the contract system of service was abolished and the teachers were henceforth appointed on a permanent basis.

In the year 1958, Mr. Muir left and Mr. C. A. Bloud, the English Master, took over the charge of the school. At this time, the Department of Education wanted to convert the School into a Sainik School . With this purpose in mind Military Personnel in helicopters even surveyed the area. But all of a sudden, Dr. B. C. Roy, the then Chief Minister, visited the School and expressed his opinion that such a well-established school should never be replaced by a Sainik School . So the site of the Sainik School was shifted to Purulia. Gradually, quite a number of Indian teachers began to step in. Since Mr. Bloud was rather reluctant to continue as Officer-in-charge, Mr. S. N. Srivastava, the Science Master became Officer-in-charge of the School - a post he held till 1965. He left the School in 1966 when Mr. D. Banerjee took charge of the School for a year. Later, the History Master, Mr. D. P. Ray took over as Officer-in-charge and continued in office till February 1970.

Mr. A. K. Das, who joined Victoria School in 1965 as Mathematics Master, was selected for the post of the Headmaster of the School in 1970. He was the first Indian to become a full-fledged Headmaster and his appointment provided the school with a Headmaster after a long gap of nearly 13 years. Mr. Das continued in office till 1977 when he was appointed Deputy Director of Secondary Education, Government of West Bengal and transferred to Calcutta . It was at this time that the present Headmaster Mr. J. Dasgupta was appointed and took over the charge of the school.

Among the outstanding boys of the School, whom I had the opportunity to know, were Mr. Manish Gupta who was a student of Standard VII in 1955, the year in which I joined the School. He was the first student of our School to become an I.A.S. Officer, though Mr. Himadri Sankar Roy had become an I.C.S. Officer before we attained independence. It was really wonderful to see at Manish as the Deputy Commissioner of Darjeeling and the Ex-Officio Chairman of the Victoria and Dow Hill School 's Governing Body.

Among the outstanding players and sportsmen who were pupils in this school, I would like to mention Messrs. Robert Blake, Norman Clark, P. Shamshere, Madhukar Rana, Sathi Bhattacharjee, Kanchan Rana, Pronab Roy (who created school record in 100 yds. and 220 yds. in 1956 and 1957 respectively and who still holds the record - 22.5 seconds for the latter event), U. Bhattacharjee and Salil Mukherjee, who, since 1962, still holds the District record in of the 200 metres event. Mr. Arani Roychowdhury and Mr. Kalyan Chowdhury, ex-students of the School, represented Bengal in the Ranji Trophy Cricket.

Victoria School thus continues in the tradition of great achievement, grandeur and popularity. Even after a 100 fruitful years and 32 years after independence, it has not outlived its necessity. But under the new situation, the more it is Indianised, the better will it be for the cause of education in our country.