A three-day-long Platinum Jubilee celebration of the Raja AT High School, Khariar, the oldest of Nuapada district, was inaugurated on Wednesday in the school premises. Governor Prof Ganeshi Lal is scheduled to attend the function on the last day on December 28.
The school was established in the year 1943 with the patronage of the erstwhile King of Khariar; Raja Artatrana Singh Deo.
It has produced thousands of students, many of whom have contributed to the society in different ways starting from literature, sports, music and also by adorning high posts in the bureaucracy.
The inaugural celebration started with offering garlands in the statue of Raja Artatrana Singh Deo and Satish Sengupta, the first Headmaster of the school, by Jitamitra Prashad Singh Deo, the present Raja of Khariar, who is an archeologist and a writer of repute. He also inaugurated a blood donation camp organised on the occasion.
The guests were some of the alumni of the school like Shyam Narayan Tiwari, ex-DG of Odisha, Anugraha Narayan Tiwari, ex-IAS officer and ex-Member of National Information Commission, Pruthiraj Majhi and an ex-IRS officer. They interacted with the students. Gopal Pattnaik, who served in the school as science teacher for many years, was present during the interaction.
The day also witnessed participation of students in various traditional games like Guli Danda, Bati, Natu and Rumal Chori.
The guests at the meeting in the evening were Duryodhan Majhi, MLA, Khariar, Dr Santosh Kumar Kamila, Post Master General of Odisha, Prof Madhusudan Pati, Shyam Narayan Tiwari, and Anugraha Narayan Tiwari. The session was presided over by Shreekant Chatterjee, president of the Platinum Jubilee Celebration Committee.