By Heather Cecilia
Phanwar
Synod Higher Secondary School was originally conceived as an English section of the KJP High School. Its founder, Gwen Catherine Evans, was a missionary in Assam and Shillong. It was on February 14, 1964, that Evans and Eileen Pariat welcomed 40 boys and girls to their Montessori school, lovingly known as Ka Skul Kong Bi. The name of the school, after deliberations, was decided to be ‘The Synod English School’ and the founder adopted the logo of the Presbyterian Church as the badge with the motto ‘The Light of life’.
The school proceeded to High School in 1978 and permission was granted to allow students to appear as HSLC private candidates. The first batch was sent in 1979. It was in August 14, 1976, that the management of the school was placed directly under KJP Synod and the school was rechristened as Synod High School with B Mitra as the first headmistress.
The performance of the school in board examinations was so impressive that MBoSE accorded recognition to the school in 1983. It was also sanctioned ad hoc grant by the govt.
The higher secondary school was opened in 1999.
Since 2005 the school has been able to secure positions in the SSLC examinations and from 2011 the school got cent per cent results in SSLC.
On April 11, 2014, the founder, GC Evans, passed away. It was also the year when the school completed 50 years and was ready for another long journey ahead.
‘The Light of Life’, as Synod’s motto says, continued to grow and on September 12, the school depicted its quest for knowledge and discipline through a concert, ‘Let Us Grow’, which saw participation of 1,500 students from the junior school.
The Principal, DR Shullai, said we chose the theme keeping in mind the adequate opportunities we aim to provide to children for the development of their talent and skill. “Every child, be the dancer, singer, musician, or compere, performed flawlessly,” said Shullai.
The event was divided into two parts in which the first part started with a prayer which was followed by different items from various classes. The show was kicked off by a dance from the youngest students of Nursery ‘A’ telling us of the philosophy of Hakuna Matata. “If we focus on the bright side of things around us we shall see what a wonderful world we live in and the message was conveyed by the talented Nursery student through her melodious voice, Annabeth Marwein,” the principal informed.
The students of Nursery ‘B’ took the audience back to the fifties’ Motown era with a dance number ‘Uptown Girl’.
The school choir celebrated the power and contribution of women through the ‘Strength of a Woman’.
Students of Class II-A called upon all believers to join them in a more contemporary music like Rock and Hip Hop which was accompanied by another performance by Class II-B.
There were surprises aplenty at the concert and with each musical performance the audience broke into cheers and applauses. The young performers were impeccable and ruled the stage with aplomb.
With the various flavours at the concert, the school wanted to convey the message that learning too can be fun and interesting, Shullai said.