Kolkata, Oct 14 (IANS): Calling it a very big day for the institution, the South Point High School here on Monday rejoiced at its alumnus Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee getting the coveted Nobel Prize for Economics.

"This is a very big day for us. No school can expect more from its students," SPHS Principal Rupa Sanyal Bhattacharya told a hurriedly-convened media meet here.

Banerjee passed his higher secondary exam from the school in 1978.

"But this was expected. For some years, we were hearing that he was being considered for the coveted award for his work," said a beaming Bhattacharya.

South Point, the first co-education school in Kolkata and still one of the leading schools in the metropolis, found its name in the Guinness Book of Records (1984-1992) as the world's largest school in terms of the number of students.

Bhattacharya said Banerjee was still in touch with the now retired teachers of the school who taught him. "He replies to e-mails from his teachers till date, despite his busy schedule at the MIT.

"This is a great quality - a quality of a great human being," she said.