Kolkata: The sesquicentennial birth anniversary of Sister Nivedita will be observed in all state-run, aided and sponsored schools in the state on October 30, a notification issued by the state Education department on Tuesday said.
Margaret Elizabeth Noble, more famously known as Sister Nivedita, was born at Dungannon in Ireland on October 28, 1867. The state government has decided to observe the 150th birth anniversary of Nivedita in a befitting manner.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee inaugurated the house of Sister Nivedita where she had opened her school in November 1898 after renovation. She is flying to England to attend a ceremony where a Blue Plaque will be installed in the house where Sister lived in England before coming to India.
The state government has set up a Sister Nivedita 150th birth celebration committee with state Education minister Partha Chatterjee as its chairman and the committee has proposed among other things creation of a chair after Sister Nivedita at Diamond Harbour Women's University.
Nivedita will be remembered for many years due to her contribution in the field of service and emancipation of women. She took the leading role in serving the people afflicted with plague in Baghbazar and its neighbourhood when the dreadful disease broke out in 1898. Not only did she open a school for girls from middle-class families, she also wrote many articles which were published in different newspapers.