imported>John of Reading at 10:34, 12 June 2021

2021-06-12T10:34:59Z

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{{short description|Indian educator}}

{{Infobox person
| name = Khanto Bala Rai
| image = KhantoBalaRai1921.jpg
| alt = A young Indian woman wearing a dark sari over a white blouse; seated, hands folded in her lap. Her hair is parted center and dressed back behind her ears.
| caption = Khanto Bala Rai, from a 1921 publication.
| birth_name = 
| birth_date = 1897
| birth_place = Midnapore
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality = Indian
| other_names = Khanta Bela Rai
| occupation = teacher
| years_active =
| known_for = Principal, [[Mission Girls' High School]], Midnapore
| notable_works =
}}

'''Khanto Bala Rai''' (born 1897) was a Bengali Christian educator, head of the [[Mission Girls' High School]] in [[Midnapore]] beginning in 1923.

== Early life ==
Khanto Bala Rai was the daughter of evangelist Sachidananda Rai<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S0tDAAAAYAAJ&q=Rai&pg=PA425|title=Rev. Otis Robinson Bacheler: fifty-three years missionary to India|last=Stacy|first=Thomas Hobbs|date=1904|publisher=The Morning Star Publishing House|pages=425}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Griffin|first=Rev. Z. F.|date=September 1923|title=Sachidanandi Rai|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6ZnNAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Sachidananda+Rai%22+Midnapore&pg=PA478|journal=Missions: American Baptist International Magazine|volume=14|pages=478–479}}</ref> and teacher Esther Rai, Christian converts in Bengal.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hudson|first=Helen|date=December 10, 1921|title=More Echoes from the Jubilee|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QSFRAQAAMAAJ&q=Khanto+Bala+Rai&pg=PA1432|journal=The Baptist|volume=2|pages=1432}}</ref> She attended [[Bethune College]] in Calcutta,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/38966714/khanto_bala_rai_1921/|title=Girl from India to See Spokane|date=May 16, 1921|work=Spokane Chronicle|access-date=November 13, 2019|page=6|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> and the [[University of Nebraska–Lincoln|University of Nebraska]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/38967398/khanto_bala_rai_1921/|title=Co-Ed So Different From Other Girls|date=December 24, 1921|work=The Saint Charles Herald|access-date=November 13, 2019|page=6|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

== Career ==
Rai taught at a Baptist girls' school in Midnapore.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Peabody|first=Mrs. H. W.|date=June 1921|title=Women Who Are Transforming the Orient|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SCVXAAAAYAAJ&q=Khanto+Bala+Rai&pg=PA475|journal=The Missionary Review|volume=44|pages=475–476}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/38967691/khanto_bala_rai_1921/|title=Khanto Bala Rai to be City's Guest|date=May 8, 1921|work=Star Tribune|access-date=November 13, 2019|page=19|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Her older sister, Shanta Baba Rai, was also a teacher at Midnapore.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/freebaptistwoman00prov|quote=Khanto Bala Rai.|title=The Free Baptist Woman's Missionary Society, 1873-1921|date=1922|publisher=The Society|pages=[https://archive.org/details/freebaptistwoman00prov/page/43 43]}}</ref>

Rai traveled with medical missionary [[Mary W. Bacheler]] to the United States in 1921.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/freebaptistwoman00prov|quote=Khanto Bala Rai.|title=The Free Baptist Woman's Missionary Society, 1873-1921|date=1922|publisher=The Society|pages=[https://archive.org/details/freebaptistwoman00prov/page/104 104]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/38961404/khanto_bala_rai_1921/|title=40 Missionaries Return from India on STR City of Sparta|date=March 22, 1921|work=The Boston Globe|access-date=November 13, 2019|page=9|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> That year, she made appearances and speeches at American Baptist gatherings, with Burmese doctor [[Ma Saw Sa]] and Chinese teacher [[Kan En Vong]], among others, as a group representing the work of Baptist women missionaries in Asian countries.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Mansfield|first=J. A.|date=June 18, 1921|title=Silver Trumpets of Women's Jubilee Still Blow|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QSFRAQAAMAAJ&q=Khanto+Bala+Rai&pg=PA630|journal=The Baptist|volume=2|pages=630}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fPopAAAAYAAJ&q=Khanto+Bala+Rai&pg=PA231|title=Annual of the Northern Baptist Convention|date=1921|publisher=The Convention|pages=231}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/38967213/khanto_bala_rai_kan_en_vong_ma_saw_sa/|title=Golden Jubilee of the Baptists is Celebrated|date=June 23, 1921|work=The Selma Times-Journal|access-date=November 13, 2019|page=4|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> She collected English-language books while in the United States, to create a library at the school in Midnapore when she returned. "We would like all kinds of children's story books, magazines, and some religious story books," she explained to a Baptist publication in 1922.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Montgomery|first=Helen B.|date=November 1922|title=An Opportunity for a Book Shower|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UWYzAQAAMAAJ&q=Khanto+Midnapore&pg=PA623|journal=Missions|volume=13|pages=623}}</ref>

She returned to Midnapore after her time in the United States, and returned to schoolwork there, as headmistress of the Midnapore Mission Girls' School starting in 1923. "In executive ability, tact with teachers, pupils, and patrons, and keen insight into the needs and opportunities of the school Miss Rai has shown her real worth and has greatly strengthened the school," noted a 1924 report.<ref>"Midnapore Increases Local Support" ''American Baptist Foreign Mission Society 1924:'' 159-160.</ref> She described the challenges of a growing school in a 1925 letter to American Baptists.<ref>Rai, Miss K. B. "Midnapore Mission Girls' School" ''Tidings from the ABFM Society of Bengal-Orissa'' (1925): 21-25.</ref> She was still principal of the school in a 1926 update.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/MN41789ucmf_5|title=The Baptist family in foreign mission fields [microform]|last1=Prescott|first1=Nellie G.|last2=Northern Baptist Convention. Board of Education|date=1926|publisher=Philadelphia, Boston : The Judson Press|others=Internet Archive}}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rai, Khanto Bala}}
[[Category:Indian educators]]
[[Category:Bengali educators]]
[[Category:Indian Baptists]]
[[Category:1897 births]]
[[Category:University of Nebraska alumni]]
[[Category:Bethune College alumni]]
[[Category:Year of death missing]]

Khanto Bala Rai - Revision history

imported>John of Reading at 10:34, 12 June 2021