School for the underprivileged renders yeoman’s service to Mawkynrew residents

SHILLONG: To give real service you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money, and that is sincerity and integrity – Douglas Adams
The words of the late English author, Adams ring true for a poor cowherd, Skoi Nongspung, who completed Class III but was deprived of further education. He however refused to allow poverty to get the better of him and went on to set up a school in the year 2000 where students avail education free of cost.
Driven by sheer determination and passion to bring education to the doorstep of the poor and underprivileged, Skoi along with his sister, Meris Nongspung set up the Nongspung-Mawria Secondary School at Thynroit under Mawkynrew Block of East Khasi Hills.
Though burdened with poverty and with little education, he was determined to ensure that children in his village are not deprived of education. That’s when the idea of setting up a school sparked in his mind and there was no looking back.
“There was no way out for these children to study in schools they cannot afford. Without any school to attend, the children would wander off here and there,” he told this correspondent.
The siblings undertook the arduous task of persuading children to go to school.
“The first school started at the compound of our home with very few students,” Meris told reporters.
Their hard work bore fruit, as after 18 years now, the school has 270 students from Kindergarten to Class X presently.
Narrating reporters about his short stint with schooling, Skoi, who is the president of the school, said, “I would leave home at the break of dawn. The school bell rang at 6 am and classes got over at 7 am. Back, then I tended cattle also.”
He was 15 years old when he passed Class III and moved from Class A to Class I, skipped Class II and went straight to Class III.
) “I managed to pass both Class I and Class III examinations. There was a time when I could not pronounce “f” and pronounced “ep” instead,” he said with a smile.
With the school not charging any money from the students, Skoi said the teachers get their financial assistance from Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA), which is distributed among the teachers.
Apart, from their passion for teaching, Meris informed that the teachers are engaged in farming to supplement their income.
The school infrastructure is still poor. Former MLA, Remington Pyngrope had facilitated the construction of a section of the RCC building housing different classrooms and staff rooms while the other section of the school is still tin-roofed.
Poverty: a hurdle for better education
This correspondent interacted with school toppers and came across, Rismelin Warjri, 18, who completed her matriculation but could not pursue her education further due to poverty.
Unable to stop her tears, she paused before speaking and with a voice heavy with emotions said, “I completed my matriculation and now I cannot go to school.”
Asked what stopped her from going to school, Warjri, while still unable to hold back her tears, said, “My mother told me I cannot study further as we are poor.”
Another bright student, Ibakor Nongrum, currently in First year (Arts) at Shillong College, was compelled to move to Nongspung-Mawria Secondary School as she could not afford the hefty fees of her previous school.
“We didn’t need to pay any fees in Nongspung-Mawria Secondary School and got the opportunity to move ahead,” the aspiring teacher said.
Larikynti Nongspung who completed her secondary education from the school and currently studying Class XI Arts in Laitumkhrah Presbyterian Higher Secondary School, echoed similar feelings and recalled good memories.
There were more like Bandralin Warjri and Rosestar Warjri, currently students of Commerce in Shillong College, thanked Skoi for the education they availed in the school.
Felicitation
A felicitation programme was held on Saturday on the school’s premises in which tiny tots with handkerchiefs neatly pinned on the sides of their sweaters gathered to get a glimpse of the mementos to be awarded to meritorious students.
Speaking on the occasion, journalist Rining Lyngdoh, who is from Mawkynrew area, expressed satisfaction that the literacy rate in Mawkynrew has increased from around 52 per cent in 2001 to around 70 per cent in 2011.
“Our area should grow further in all fronts. As a person who comes from poor family, I am so delighted and overwhelmed to be in a school that takes care of students from underprivileged families,” he said.
He hailed the efforts of Skoi and Meris who dedicated their services for the poor to run the school without taking any fee.
Lyngdoh also pointed to an inspirational story of an IAS topper, Govind Jaiswal who was the son of a rickshaw puller.
“He was from a poor family and would use cotton balls in his ears while studying to shut the noise of generators running in the locality.”
Later, Lyngdoh felicitated Skoi and the meritorious students.
Agriculture
The village of Thynroit mainly produces cabbage and potatoes. Men and women were seen ploughing the field to reap their produce.
Cabbages were stacked by farmers and ready to be packed and ferried to local markets and neighboring states.