By Willie Gordon Suting &
Nabamita Mitra
Shillong’s crown of education hub may have lost its sparkle but a few institutes in the city as well as in the state are still holding on to the glorious past to create a better future.
1967 was the year that marked the beginning of All Saints’ School, a beginning birthed of a small idea.
LS Ingty, then IAS officer at the time, requested Chamberlain Jones to arrange a meeting for him with the Bishop Rt. Rev. Ariel. V Jonathan. Ingty wanted them to come up with a church school soon. The mere suggestion sounded a little brash.
But things slowly went ahead as Chamberlain was appointed principal and Deigrita Gatphoh as the first teacher. Chamberlain wanted to take up teaching duties as well.
Pyndemlang Kharbuli, who is now Chief Engineer of the Brahmaputra Board, presented himself to the school as the first student. With his trustworthy eyes, the boy looked confident.
Within a week, the school had more applicants. And slowly the class strength rose to more than a dozen.
The students would sit together in a small Sunday school room listening to lectures, and during lunch break would share their food with one another. The years were spent learning together and creating memories, or rather history.
As the years rolled by, the school witnessed an increase in the number of staff and pupils. A single classroom grew into a multi-storeyed building to accommodate all students.
In the year 1984, the school was recognised by the Meghalaya Board of School Education (MBoSE). In 2008, the Higher Secondary Section — Arts and Commerce — was introduced.
The school has produced excellent results in the Matriculation exams and also shone in extra-curricular activities like basketball.
At present, there are about 2,000 students, 60 teachers and 15 staff. The vision of the school has been articulated through hard work and selfless attitude of the teachers and the innocence and gusto of the students.
The golden jubilee marking 50 years of the school celebrated this year is the beginning of a new journey of learning and growing. It is also a time to look back and soak in how far the school has arrived to this remarkable achievement. The school’s motto “Strive and Prevail” speaks for the desire of the church congregation, management and faculty towards positivity.
Speaking to Sunday Shillong, Principal Evarisha M Syiem said, “I am just humbled by how the school has reached this historic event. But it is also a new beginning for us, a steppingstone towards greater achievements.”
The school celebrated the jubilee’s closing ceremony on October 14 on its campus with the presence of chief guest Rt. Rev. Michael Herenz, Bishop, Diocese of Northeast India, alumni, parents and invitees witnessing the schoolchildren sing and dance. There was also the performance of Tim Rice’s famous musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat.
“We shape and mould the students to possess strong human values like faith, integrity and humility. The students who pass out from here carry these throughout their lives,” says Syiem.
When asked about future plans, Syiem said, “We are planning to introduce Science section in Higher Secondary in the near future. We will also to come up with music as a subject in both secondary and higher secondary levels.”
“We also plan to expand the school with construction of new buildings,” adds Syiem.
In Garo Hills, another school, which began with the mission to educate poor girl children, will celebrate its golden years. Established in the same year as All Saints’, Tura Government Girls’ School started as a humble endeavour by a group of Garo graduates. The school, which will celebrate 50 years on November 15, now has till higher secondary level and is an example for education institutes in the state.
Located at the heart of the cultural, political, religious and educational centre of Tura town, Don Bosco Higher Secondary School, the first Catholic educational institution in Garo Hills, was established by Fr. Anthony Buccieri SDB, an Italian missionary, in 1957 with the sole objective of catering to the educational needs of the local population. It was started as an LP school with about 20 students on a hill, the centre of the Catholic Mission then, where the present Bishop’s House stands.
There were two or three teachers in the beginning. After 1960 the school was shifted to the foothills of the present spacious campus located at Lower Chandmari. In 1964, it was raised to a high school under the name Don Bosco High School. In 1988, the night section was opened and in 2014 the higher secondary section, Arts and Science, was also inaugurated.
In 1913, the then Deputy Commissioner of Garo Hills, Col Halliday invited Fr Rudolf Fontaine, a German Salvatorian missionary from Gauhati to come to Tura to explore the possibility of starting a good Catholic school. People in this little hill town then knew about the prestigious schools in Shillong like Loreto, St Edmund’s and St Anthony’s. Soon after he returned to Gauhati, Fr Fontaine received a letter from Col Halliday appreciating his visit and also reminding him of the establishment of a mission centre and school. He requested him to inform as soon as a positive decision is made in this regard. But soon the outbreak of World War I and the expulsion of the German missionaries from the region dashed the hopes of the DC and the people of Tura.
This dream and wish would be fulfilled only when the Salesians of Don Bosco under the leadership of Fr A. Pianazzi opened the first Catholic centre in Tura in 1934. It took still a few more years for the establishment of a school in the form of Don Bosco School.
Today the school has 2,038 students from nursery to Class XII and 63 on the staff and boasts of producing illustrious students like late politician PA Sangma. The institute of repute has not only promoted quality education but also focused on students’ physical and mental development.
“What sets Don Bosco aside from other schools in Tura is its emphasis on co-curricular activities. The school has good facilities for sports and games, athletics, gymnastics, music, martial arts (Taekwondo), groups like NCC and Scouts and Guides, Science Club, Literacy Club and others. The school has a mini stadium which can contain about 4,000 spectators in its open and covered galleries. Don Bosco School is the only school in Tura that runs a music school called Bosco Academy of Music and offers music as a subject at the higher secondary level,” says Principal Fr Albert Thyrniang, adding that a football academy is on the anvil.
The school has also represented West Garo Hills district regularly in Subroto Cup in Shillong. It is also closely associated with technical and job-oriented training in Information Technology, beautician, electrical and security guards.
Thyrniang, who is associated with the school for the past two and a half years, says the school’s academic performance has been laudable with board toppers almost every year. However, there was a hiatus of a decade and again in 2017, Rahul Sen of Don Bosco ranked second in the state in SSLC MBoSE examinations.
“An independent assessment by a Mumbai-based firm has ranked us among the top schools run by Don Bosco Society in Lower Assam and Garo Hills,” says Thyrniang.
Looking back in time, Thyrniang says there are certain things that he would like to amend keeping in pace with the changing times.
“I should have given top priority to training of teachers. I also should have invited people from different fields and experiences to broaden the minds of the students. I hope to correct on these fronts in the near future,” says the principal.
The school, which celebrated its diamond jubilee on October 18, has the Vision 2020 which includes cent per cent pass in SSLC and HSSLC examinations with 80 per cent in the first division and introduction of science section.
Sixty years on, the Don Bosco Society is setting a new set of targets for the decades to come. It aims to make the school one of the best in the state in all parameters by improving human resources and infrastructure.
“One of the dreams of the school is to open a commerce stream with an emphasis on entrepreneurship and an indoor stadium cum auditorium that will go a long way in realising the vision of the school,” concludes Thyrniang.