Epochal Kheda Satyagraha school to graduate into college

VADODARA/ ANAND: More than a century old Kathlal town school, Sheth M R High School, from where Mahatma Gandhi had launched country’s second mass movement — the Kheda Satyagraha of 1918 — will turn into a full-fledged college offering professional courses to students.
The historic school was started in memory of Sheth Manilal Ranchhoddas – who also lends his name to Ahmedabad’s Maninagar area.
The school is witness to visits by high-profile dignitaries including India’s Iron Man late Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, former Prime Minister (PM) late Indira Gandhi and PM Narendra Modi among many others.
The trust — Vakil K M Education Society, Kathlal — that runs the high school has joined hands with Changa-based Charotar University of Science and Technology (Charusat University) to provide education in rural areas of Kheda district. Gujarat government has given its nod to convert the high school into Charusat Vidyalaya.
Founded on October 23, 1908 as a school, the institute became a full-fledged high school offering Classes V to XI between June 1946 and March 1947. It later started placing its students in the matriculation examination conducted by the University of Mumbai.
At present, the high school has 2,300 students enrolled in Classes VI to XII apart from 100-odd teachers. The state government has given approval to start Class I to V non-granted English and Gujarati medium at the premises. At the higher level, Charusat Vidyalaya will offer professional courses like BBA, BCA, diploma engineering among other courses based on suitability of the region.
Leafing through pages of Indian history, the school was the venue where Bapu on February 19, 1918 had asked peasants of Kheda to resort to Satyagraha to demand the British Raj to scrap tax collected from farmers in wake of a famine.
“We will do our best to take this historic institution to newer heights. Our efforts will be to ensure that children from the rural heartland of our region receive global level education in higher streams of engineering and technical streams in future,” said Nayan Patel, secretary of the society that coordinator of Charusat Vidyalaya.
“We will continue our efforts to ensure that children of all classes get quality education through the Vidyalaya,” said Dr M C Patel, secretary of Shri Charotar Moti Sattavis Patidar Kelavani Mandal.
“Like Charusat University, even at Charusat Vidyalaya, we want to develop a world-class infrastructure that will make the legacy of this institute even brighter,” said vice president of Kelvani Mandal C A Patel.