Satish Ranjan Das

After completing school and university education in England, Das returned to India in 1894. The idea of The Doon School originated from his participation in the"growing search for a national Indian identity."[1]

Although he died seven years before the school actually opened, Das and others in his informal group had lobbied for it during the 1920s. Das and the rest of the group envisaged an Indian school patterned on the British public school, which he felt had effectively trained young men to become responsible and resourceful administrators throughout the British Empire. But in contrast to British schools, the founders of the Doon School wanted an Indian school to be nonsectarian and responsive to Indian aspirations. The founders saw Doon as the training ground for a new generation of Indian leaders who would take over the reins of administration and government following Independence.

By copying the model of the British public school, the founders were attempting to show that Indians could compete with the British on their own terms without relinquishing their national or cultural identity. This reflected the views of many Indian leaders and intellectuals of the time, but certainly not all. Characteristically, Jawaharlal Nehru welcomed the creation of the school but Mohandas K. Gandhi would have nothing to do with it.[2]

In 1922, Das he was appointed Advocate-General of Bengal.[3] In 1927, he became a member of the Viceroy's Executive Council of Lord Irwin.

Das was born in 1870 to Durga Mohan Das, a social reformer. He belonged to the Baidya Das family of Telirbagh, Bikrampur, Dhaka, now in Bangladesh. He was cousin to Chittaranjan Das and Sudhi Ranjan Das (Chief Justice of India). Das's two sisters were Sarala Roy who founded the Gokhale Memorial School in Calcutta, and Abala Bose, wife of scientist Jagadish Bose.

Das was married to Bonalata Devi. One of his grandsons, Shomie Das, went on to serve as headmaster of The Doon School.

In the summer of 1928, SR Das spent a good deal of his time in England visiting schools and discussing his scheme with well known educationists. Towards the end of that summer, he returned to India and went to Shimla to resume his duties. He soon became unwell and died in Calcutta on 26 October 1928.

• Chopra, Radhika & Jeffery, Patricia M. (Eds.) (2005). Educational Regimes in Contemporary India. Sage Publications Inc. ISBN 0-7619-3349-2

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