The 200-year-old Hindu School, one of Calcutta’s oldest institutions, which has seen dwindling number of good students, will start an English medium wing at the primary level from the next academic session.

The school education department on Friday issued an order directing the school’s headmaster to start the English medium section from 2020. The new section starting next month will start with pre-primary classes.

The new unit will run along with the existing Bengali medium section.

The school, which was one of the most sought-after institutions in Calcutta for years, suffered heavily when the Left Front government abolished English at the primary level and transferred teachers from reputable schools to lesser-known institutions.

Last year, education minister Partha Chatterjee had announced that it would set up English medium wings at the primary level in at least 100 state-run and sponsored institutes.

The government is keen to start English medium wings in vernacular institutes to ensure parents who can’t afford private schools could provide their children with an English education, he had said.

Hindu School, which celebrated its bicentennial year two years ago without much of a buzz, had produced pioneering academics like Satyendra Nath Bose and Meghnad Saha.

The school will be the first state-run institute in Calcutta to start an English medium wing.

The government on Friday gave its nod to start an English medium wing at the primary level to a state-run school in Barasat on the city’s northern outskirts.

All 39 schools in the state run directly by the school education department are among the 100 selected for starting English medium wings.

Hare School, Bethune Collegiate School, Ballygunge Government High School, Sakhawat Memorial Government Girls High School and Sanskrit Collegiate School are some of the state-run schools in Calcutta.

All schools with new English medium units will be equipped with facilities for modern teaching and learning as well as extra-curricular activities.

New English medium units were started in some of the 39 schools in the districts last year.

Jenkins School in Cooch Behar, Bankura Zilla School in Bankura and Nawab Bahadur’s Institution in Murshidabad are some of the schools where English medium wings started last year.