Niranjan Das, a noted educationalist and a former principal of Tezpur Academy and Bengali Boys Higher Secondary School, Tezpur died on February 5 due to prolonged illness. Niranjan Das was born on February 4, 1934 and had his education at Tezpur. After passing intermediate Science he served for a brief period under Central Water Commission at Tezpur and later joined Bengali Boy’s High School as an Assistant Teacher.
During his teaching profession he completed his BA and MA under Calcutta University and served the school as a subject teacher in the Higher Secondary section. He was deputed for BT course at Jorhat BT College and he stood 1st under Dibrugarh University. He was also a part-time lecturer at BT College and B.Ed College, Tezpur.
Das served as NCC Officer in the school, he was sent to Maharashtra for a special course of training in NCC. He inspired the students to join in the NCC in the large numbers and once under his guidance a NCC cadet of his school participated in the Republic Day parade and brought laurels for the institution.
He was a veracious reader and served the school as a librarian and collected huge number of books of Assamese, English, Bengali. He made it mandatory for each of the students to take a book every week and return the same after reading. That way Das developed the habit of reading among the students. After retirement he also served at Rangapara Bengali Boys High School, as Principal of Guru Nanak High School, Dhekiajuli.
He had a wonderful style of teaching in the form of story-telling. For a long period he was a Superintendent of the hostel of the Bengali Boys High School. His dream was to upgrade the school in the level of excellence in which in fact he was successful, when the students of the school stood 3rd, 5th and 7th position and brought glory to the School in HSLC Examination.
During his time the school had a good football and cricket team and the school brought name and fame during inter school competition in the field of sports and Das took initiative to distribute football in every municipal ward to enable the students to encourage the habit of playing football.
The school brought laurels not only in the field of academic results but also in the field of sports of culture. He has a rich library at his home and in personal life he was a believer of Leftism and a follower of Marxism. Das was a man of strong discipline and never compromised with injustice, he had a soft corner for tea garden workers as his father was working in the tea garden and always raised the voice against the sufferings of the have-not class. He was regularly writing letter to the editor column with so many burning issues. His sudden death has cast a pall of gloom among his students, well wishers and colleagues.
A large number of persons from all walks of life visited his house and paid last homage. His funeral was largely attended and floral wreaths were placed by different educational institutions and death was condoled widely, educational institutions declared holiday in his honour. He was 89 and survived by wife and 3 sons. His death was a huge loss to the society which is not easy to fill. I, as his disciple, pay my tribute to his departed soul and pray to the Almighty for the peaceful rest of his soul in connection with Adya Shraddha.
Subhash Chandra Biswas
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