Chutki Bhandar Girls’ College was Gandhi’s tribute to women
Set up in 1921 with the Tilak-Swaraj fund raised from the contributions of women, this school provides education to more than 900 girls now
LUCKNOW:The Chutki Bhandar Girls Inter College in Hussainganj here was set up by Mahatma Gandhi in 1921 as a tribute to women power. And the story behind its establishment is an interesting chapter in history.
According to a book written by noted Gandhian Ramnath Suman “Uttar Pradesh Mein Gandhi’, published in 1969, Gandhi called on the women of the area to take out a little bit of flour (before starting cooking for their families), for the freedom fighters and revolutionaries who often had to stay hungry,” said head of history department, Navyug Girls Degree College, Shobha Mishra.
She added, “The freedom fighters used to go without food for days in the absence of money and edible items. During his visit in October 1920 Gandhi gave a call to women of the area to started giving a little flour for the freedom fighters that was collected from every house by some volunteers and deposited at a given place. The bank of flour was called Tilak-Swaraj fund. Within a few months the amount of flour became so huge that the volunteers decided to sell the excess amount and by doing that they collected ₹64.25, which was a huge amount those days.”
The volunteers then asked Gandhi how to utilise the money, on which he said, “Because the money has came from the contribution of women, it depicts the power of women in society. So it’s our duty to spend this money for the betterment of women. Hence, there is no harm in setting up a girls school.”
So on the day of Nag Panchami, Chutki Bhandar School was set up for girls. This school is now a full-fledged inter college, in which more than 900 girl students are getting education in various subjects.
The school also has a library of 213 books, some of them are on Mahatma Gandhi. Noted historian Yogesh Praveen said, “In Lucknow, Mahatma Gandhi experimented a lot, like the call of sharing flour before making meals. From this he learned that people were ready to share whatever they have for the sake of freedom from British.” According to Praveen, Gandhi also saw that Lucknow was truly a cosmopolitan city where Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Bengalis, Maharashtrians etc. used to live in large number without any trouble. “It was here he said that Hindi spoken in Lucknow cannot be Sanskritised and Hindi or Arabic Urdu is perfect Hindustani,” Praveen said. He said Gandhi met Nehru for the first time in Lucknow during the Congress conclave on December 26, 1916 and from here the process to change India’s destiny began.