School Life

Momtazuddin Ahmed studied up to the fourth grade at the secondary school in his village, Aiho. Later, he enrolled in the fifth grade at Malda District School, located in the main town of English Bazar, six miles from his village. He lived at the house of his uncle and aunt.
His uncle, Ziauddin Ukil, took care of him while his father returned to their native village. This was the first time he was separated from his family and mother. However, when he left home this time, his grandmother didn’t express sorrow; rather, she encouraged him to study at a bigger school.
He ranked first in the admission test and began a new chapter at Malda District School.
His memories from that period were vivid. He lived under strict discipline at his uncle's house. He had to be at school by 9:30 AM. On the school veranda, the headmaster, Dr. Enamul Haque, would write daily news updates from home and abroad. Momtazuddin used to read them during tiffin time. His favorite teacher was the Bengali instructor, Charuchandra Chattopadhyay (C.C.C). English was taught by Prashanta Babu. Every Saturday, school was held for half a day, although students had to stay the full day. The annual function included singing and drawing competitions. Songs were written and composed by Charu Babu, while drawing was taught by Biren Babu. Through various cultural activities, he developed close childhood friendships.
After securing first place in both the fifth and sixth grades, he moved to live with his maternal aunt when he entered the seventh grade. But his aunt’s house lacked the strict discipline he was used to. Some irregularities were tolerated, and he became an avid movie lover. Later, he moved into the Muslim student dormitory, located next to the Hindu dormitory. Students from both dorms lived together in harmony. Occasionally, he would sneak out of the dormitory at night to watch movies. Once, he was fined four rupees for this. During this time, his beloved grandmother passed away, though he learned of it much later. During the partition of India and Pakistan, Muslim students were unjustly expelled from the hostel and school due to false accusations. At that point, only a few months remained before his matriculation exam. Momtazuddin then moved to his maternal grandfather’s house in Bholahat, Pakistan (now Bangladesh), and got admitted to Rameshwar Secondary School, where he completed his matriculation. Although he had always been a top student, his results weren’t as expected. Nevertheless, passing matriculation was a significant achievement at the time, so he didn’t challenge his marks. That year, only about seven or eight students from Rameshwar Secondary School passed the matric exam. While he wasn’t personally satisfied with the result, his family was happy with this level of success.