Sanskrit Collegiate School is one of the oldest schools in Kolkata, India, teaching grades 1 to 12 under the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education and the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education. The boys-only school was established by the then Bengal intelligentsia along with Sanskrit College, Calcutta. The establishment date is 1 January 1824. It is located on College Street (now re
named Bidhan Sarani) in central Kolkata. Its centrality is heightened by its proximity to Presidency College, Kolkata, the University of Calcutta, and the Indian Coffee House. It was established during the Governor-Generalship of Lord Amherst, based on a recommendation by HT James Prinsep and Thomas Babington Macaulay among others. The institution rose to prominence during the principalship by Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar in 1851, who admitted students from other than the brahmin caste. In particular the tol or traditional Indian training school model was incorporated as a department in the 1870s. In the pre-independence era, it was one of the finest seats of academic excellence in matters pertaining to Hinduism, eastern philosophy, ancient Indian history and ancient Indian languages like Pali and Prakrit. It is particularly well known for the contribution of its faculty and students in the social, cultural and religious transformation in nineteenth century Bengal in what came to be popularly regarded as the Bengal Renaissance. In terms of scholarship and intellectual output, it contributed hugely to enriching the knowledge of ancient Indian society and interpretation of ancient Indian texts.
