Ravenshaw Collegiate School, the premier and the oldest high school of Odisha, is rich with its literary heritage, glorious achievements, traditions and legacies. It enjoyed the status at par with the Taxila and Nalanda of the past and Eton and Harrow of the present. Rev. William Bampton established the school in May 1822 as ‘English School’. The Government took over the management of the school in 1841 and the school was known as the famous ‘Cuttack School’ in the post 1841 period. The Cuttack School of 1841 became ‘Cuttack Zilla School’ in 1851 and thus became the first high school of Odisha. In 1875, the school was named after Thomas Edward Ravenshaw, the then Commissioner of Odisha division and came to be known as Ravenshaw Collegiate School.
It is the alma mater of great luminaries like Utkala Gauraba Madhusudan Das, Karmabira Gourishankara Ray, one of the founder members of Ghadar Party Saheed Kartar Singh Sarabha, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Biju Patnaik, eminent scientist Dr Prana Krushna Parija, eminent philosophers Chittaranjan Das and Prof Jitendra Nath Mohanty, international swimmer Mihir Sen and others. Head Masters e Beni Madhab Das, Narayan Prasad Mohanty had profound influence on shaping the character and leadership of Netaji and Saheed Sarabha. The school, its teachers and students still uphold its past heritage and maintain its glory in the field of education and also in other important fields.
Utkala Gauraba Madhusudan Das played a pioneer role in the formation of the State of Odisha in 1936, the first State established on the basis of language during the British rule. Publication of first ever vernacular odia newspaper ‘Utkala Dipikaa’, by Karmabira Gourishankara Ray was an underground press in Cuttack which took lead in the Civil Disobedience Movement in Odisha.
Source: Biswaranjan Sasmal, Old student & Founder Member, Revolutionary Archive, Ravenshaw Collegiate School Cuttack