School where Mahatma Gandhi studied shuts down

Rajkot, May 4

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Alfred High School, a premium institute of Rajkot, where the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, studied has been closed down and all 150 students here have been given their leaving certificates.

It was a terse notification from the Gujarat Government in 2016 that a museum on Mahatma Gandhi worth Rs 12 crore was to be created at Alfred High School or Mohandas Gandhi High School and that the students will be shifted to Karansinhji High School.

"There was adequate space at the Alfred High School to carve out a museum and also run the school."

The students and teachers were handed over their leaving certificates and asked to fend for themselves.

The school was constructed during the British rule by political agent Kernel Singh and was the first English school in the region. Originally called Rajkot English School, it was founded on October 17, 1853, and later became a full-fledged high school.

By 1868, it came to be known as Rajkot High School and was named Alfred High School in 1907.

Following India's independence in 1947, the school was renamed the "Mohandas Gandhi High School" in the honour of Mahatma Gandhi.

At the age of 18, Mahatma Gandhi had graduated from this school in 1887. —ANI