General Education Institute's High School, Kalyan - Subhedar Wada

Trivia -

1. Being established in 1892 this is the first school in Kalyan.
2. School's Ganesh festival is one of the oldest in Maharashtra. Probably second after Pune's Ganesh festival initiated by Lokmanya Tilak.
3. School's old building which was a Peshawa styled wada of the then governor Mr. Biwalkar was crushed in the fall of 2002.
4. Shivaji Maharaj stayed here for one night.
5. This school belongs to one of the most prestigious institutes in Maharashtra, General Education whose 'Chhabildas High School' has earned a name for itself all over Maharashtra for its quality education.
6. The school is famous for its high standards and frequent merit students and often cited as the best Marathi medium school in Thane district.
7. This school provides Kindergarten, Primary, High and Jr. College education affiliated to S.S.C. board.
8. This school is soon going to affiliate to C.B.S.E. board of course with starting English medium.
9. This school is popularly known as 'Subhedar Wada'.


About 'Subhedar Wada' -

The term 'Subhedar Wada' means a small palace of the governor. Subhedar Wada is a famous ancient building which was once residence of governor of Kalyan. The building, having been built in midst of 18th century stood erect for more than 230 years and was just now demolished in Sept. 2002. The 'Subhedar Wada' was not just a historical palace for citizens of the Kalyan city, but it was far more.

In the 18th century the 'Wada' served as merely a residential building of Subhedar Biwalkar, Governor of Kalyan under Maratha Kingdom spread in the the states, currently known as Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujrat. In 1890s Mrs. Akshikar started the first British Govt. recognized school in Kalyan named General Education Institute's High School in this Subhedar Wada. The Institute later bought the wada from Biwalkar and is still owner of the building. Since then the school also is known as Subhedar Wada. Along with the school, it has also been center of drama theatre in Kalyan. The celebration of Ganpati Festival in Subhedar Wada is not only famous but also prestigious for Kalyan. Almost four generations of Kalyan citizens got their education through the school with its trained and highly experienced teachers.

The building was not an ordinary architecture, it was an ancient architecture present in list of Ancient Artifacts of State Govt. of Maharashtra. It was typical Marathi architecture of the 17th century with a large open space in the middle called 'chowk' and a very huge door of height about 15 ft. The Subhedar Wada had two such large chowks and two large doors. The 'Ganesh mahal' - the front end of the building was carved and sculptured skillfully, the windows carved in wood with various designs.

The building has been demolished down, as stated earlier, for the new expanded school building which is now built in that place. So, Subhedar Wada, once a pride of Kalyan, has unexpectedly turned into memories for Kalyan Citizens.
Credit - sanket_s from tripod.com