West Bengal Headmasters’ Association is the voice of the teachers and education employees of Secondary and Higher Secondary Schools of the state. It is guided by the principles of democracy and social justice. It is self-governing and is free from influence or control by any political party or ideological or religious grouping. It was registered under the Act XXI of 1860, the Registration No. is 17412, dated 11^th December 1948. Some Headmasters and college teachers at eminent schools and colleges of Kolkata and neighbouring districts formed the organisation with a view to assist the new government of free India to develop a comprehensive policy on education.

The following HOIs and Professors signed the Byelaw at the time of registration:

• Lalmohon Bhattacharya
• Haridas Bose
• Keshabeswar Bose
• Dharanidar Mukherjee
• Kamala Chatterjee
• Manoranjan Sengupta
• Amulyadhan Banerjee
• Manoranjan Rai
• Anil Ganguly
• Nirmal Chandra Sinha

We believe in the Plurality, Unity, and Integrity of India. Our aim is to foster quality education for all sections of pupils and to protect the rights and professional interest of teachers and education employees. we advocate for democracy in education management and are against privatisation and commercialisation.

The Association runs according to the guidelines laid down in a written constitution. A three-tier body – ‘The Executive Committee’, ‘The Working Committee’ and ‘The Secretariat’ consisting of elected members regulates the functioning of the Organisation. There are seven Standing Committees – Finance, Bulletin, Examination, Publication, Education and Research, Organisation, Pension Protection and Benefit.

The Association has a golden past. Up to 1965 there was no elected President, stalwarts of educational world adorned the chair. Some of them are –

• Jotirbikash Mitra – 1948
• Dr. Srikumar Bandopadhyaya – 1951
• Principal Dr. Debaprasad Ghosh – 1953
• Haridas Bhattacharya – 1955
• Dr. Humayun Kabir, Central Education Minister – 1957
• Anathnath Basu – 1959
• Principal Dr. Prasanta Kumar Basu – 1961
• Dharanimohan Mukhopadhyaya – 1965 (The first elected President)

Thereafter Iswar Chandra Pramanik (1968), Birajaksha Mukherjee (1970), Hirendrahath Roy (1971), Bishnubrata Bhattacharya (1972), Paresh Chandra Goswami (1987), Sudhir Adhikari (1992), Mahabir Mukherjee (2003), Prithwis Kumar Basu (2006), Paresh Chandra Bhunia (2009), Maniklal Roy Chaudhuri (2011-2020) - all of them were men of strong personality, and reputation and enriched the Association with their able leadership.

Equally remarkable are the General Secretaries - who are still remembered and will be remembered for years to come for their outstanding contribution –

• Dharanimohan Mukherjee – 1948-1959
• Bishnubrata Bhattacharya – 1959-1969
• Pradyot Kumar Sinha – 1969-1986
• Prithwis Kumar Basu – 1986-2002
• Asoke Kumar Maiti – 2003-2010
• Niharendu Chaudhuri – 2011-2016

From the very beginning, it is the tradition of the Association to invite intellectuals from different sections of the society to deliver their valuable lectures at the Biennial State Conference. It is a matter of pride that West Bengal Headmasters’ Association became a platform of the intellectuals like Vice-Chancellor - Dr. Rama Chaudhuri (1969), Dr. Kiran Chaudhuri (1970), V. C. Karuna Ketan Sen (1973) , Central Minister Pranab Mukherjee (1974), Principal Himangshu Bimal Mazumdar (1976), Principal Dibakar Das Mahanta (1979), Dr. Ramaranjan Mukherjee (1980), Justice Sankar Prasad Mitra (1981), Central Minister P. S. Thungan (1984), Dr. Chandan Roychoudhuri (1985), Dr. Nimai Sadhan Basu (1986), State Education Minister Mrityunjay Banerjee (1988), Dr. Debiprasad Chattophadyay (1989), V. C. Dilip Kumar Sinha (1993), V. C. Basudev Barman (1996), Justice Pratap Kumar Roy (2005), Justice Susanta Chattophadyay (2007), Minister A. N. Khan Chaudhuri and Priya Ranjan Das Munsi. This list is so long that we can safely say no other teachers’ organisation has such a golden presence.

In post-Independence period the WBHA played an important role in the government in the formation of education policy, appointment rules, management rules, leave rules, pay structure etc. As the leaders of the Association were renowned scholars, the Govt. sought for their advice and suggestion for important decision making. Our Manual for School administration is still a reliable guidebook in the education Department.

In every Pay Commission proposal of WBHA have been considered with greater importance.

The Salary Deficit Scheme from 1^st May 1972 is the result of long movement from 6^th August 1971 to 10^th March 1972 by way of Satyagraha, fasting, imprisonment, Civil Disobedience. ‘Jail Bharo’ and the State Government under Siddharth Sankar Ray was bound to submit.

In ROPA-1981, the superannuation age was reduced to 60 years and the WBHA formed Joint Council of teaching and non-teaching Employees with 10 anti-left teacher's organisation and led a strong opposition movement that became a history.

The Left Front Government abolished teaching of English from Primary Level in 1982 and the WBHA organised a strong movement against the wrong decision and even published Beginners’ English for class V in the same year. In spite of Govt. opposition, this book was highly appreciated in the schools and the Govt. was at last bound to reintroduce English in class V.

The malafide attempt of the Left Front government to rewrite history book of class VII and VIII in the light of Communism was prevented by the WBHA and the fight reached to the Hon’ble Supreme Court and the Association won the battle and even published new books “Amader Desher Katha” to glorify the contribution of freedom fighters.

The Association under able leadership of Late Prithwis Basu placed valuable opinion about New Education Policy 1985 and also National Curricular Framework. He also played active role in bifurcation of Syllabus of class XI and XII.

The West Bengal Headmasters’ Association publish a monthly Bulletin that once became Literary magazine under the renowned editors like Monidranath Ghosh (Father of great poet Sankha Ghosh), Dhiresh Chandra Bhattacharya whose work on ‘Mahabharata’ is still remembered, Gura Prasad Chakraborty, Swadesh Ranjan Chanda Choudhuri, Suryanshu Bhattacharyya, and many others. The articles published in the Bulletin is the record of the literature and culture of contemporary Bengal. Now it is published bi-monthly.

The Association had access to the intellectuals of the society for its seminar, symposium and workshop on value education, syllabus, and curriculum. Importance of English, New Education policy, Role of teachers, Importing Quality Education, Right to Education Act, Education for All etc. Principal Dibakar Das Mahanta, V. C. Dr. Dilip Kumar Sinha, Principal Binoy Kirishna Mukhopadhyay, Prof. Sudin Chattophadyay, Prof. Muktinath Chattopadhyay, Prof. Sunanda Sanyal, Principal Amal Mukhopadhyay, Prof. Rabiranjan Chattophadyay, Dr. Kalyanmoy Ganguly, Prof. Satyasadhan Chakrabarty, Presidents of WBBSE and WBCHSE and Training colleges enriched the programmes by their valuable deliberations.

The WBHA is affiliated to All India Federation of Educational Employees’ Association (AIFEA) which is a member of Educational International (EI), an international organisation of teachers of 170 countries. Late Supriti Sanyal, Late Bishnubrata Bhattacharya, Suryanshu Bhattacharya and other organisers attended many national and international conference from Bengal. Starting from 1948 the WBHA has built an important partnership with society by contributing to the strengthening education system in the state and is now approaching Platinum Jubilee carrying on the olden past and promising present.

Now in our state there has been a sea change in the education sector. Commendable approaches have been undertaken for the development of infrastructure, benefits to the students and teachers. Infrastructure development, IOSMS, Utsashree, Mutual Transfer-2012, General Transfer-2015, e-Pension, E-Governance, Academic and Administrative Reforms have changed the scenario of school education. Still the role of teachers and teachers’ organisation in the education system can never be ignored. A strong association with rich heritage like ours can serve the best for the teaching community.