A parish in Assam’s Bongaigaon diocese with the help of a Guwahati based NGO has come up with a novel scheme to prevent high school children dropping out of school or flunking in their board examinations. Parish priest of St Joseph’s Doomni parish nestled in the 1,040 hectares of Doomni Tea garden in Baksa district of north-eastIndia says, “In the past two years I am here, I am saddened by the number of promising students who drop out of school just before their first board exams.”
Fr Ethelbert Minj says, “The problem is acute as large number of students fail or do not appear for the board exams as they are weak in Maths, Science or English and cannot afford private tutors who charge Rs. 500 (approx. USD 10) per month per subject.”
Fr Minj who was assistant priest in the same parish some two decades ago, sought help and harnessed the collaboration of Bosco Reach Out (BRO) a Guwahati based Salesian NGO to find sponsors for the children to benefit from free coaching.
BRO was established in 1983 as a non-profit, non-political and social service wing of the Salesian Province of Guwahati in North EastIndia.
BRO director Salesian Fr K.J. Thomas proposed to find sponsors for 100 students of the parish which has population of some 12,000 Catholics spread out in 1,740 families in 27 villages about 5 to 10 kms radius of the parish. They belong to Adivasi, Assamese and Boro population living in harmony.
The parish also runs Don Bosco School established in 1972 asAssamese medium and later in 1997 made into an English medium school under Assam Board. Today the school has 1,083 students at Doomni and two feeder schools in Bongaon and Subansiri villages totaling another 261 students.
While mobilizing students for the coaching class, Fr Minj found “a huge response of some 350 students of the neighboring schools in the parish area who wished to benefit from the scheme.”
“Today there are 235 students signed up for 2 hours of evening classes from Monday to Friday every week with four teachers teaching three subjects: Maths, Science and English,” says Coordinator of the Coaching Class project and Assistant Parish priest Fr Charles Deepan Lakra.
The students get daily snacks to ensure that they do not go hungry while staying back to study.
Hearing about the enthusiastic Coaching Class project Salesian provincial of Guwahati Fr V.M. Thomas promised every student three notebooks each saying, “it is gift from one of my cousins who was inspired by the ignited minds of village children who were willing to study and dreamed of a better future.” BRO director Fr Thomas also promised “best three student toppers of the tuition classes will be invited to a Christmas party in December to BRO in Guwahati along with their teachers.”
Mr Maximus Kerketta teacher at neighbouring Nalbari High School one of four teachers at Coaching Class and leader of parish youth programs coordinated the inauguration program, 27 May.
Speaking at the inaugural function Fr Thomas congratulated Fr Minj for his “characteristic availability to come to the aid of weak students with motivation and conviction that given the chance, students can succeed.”
Fr Thomas affirmed his belief in the words of Gandhiji who said “our talents lie in the villages and given the chance they will bloom.”
He encouraged students saying, “when other students loaf about, there should be no drop outs and no failures from coaching class students.”
Fr Thomas also presented and congratulated Mr Anil Kujur, a boy from Doomni Tea Garden to become the first College lecturer at Doomni College and PhD Scholar at Assam Don Bosco University Guwahati.
“Thank you for thinking about us poor and marginalized students offering us opportunity to succeed in life,” said class IX student Mr Damien Kerketta summing up the feelings of his class mates in the welcome address.
4 Jan 2009 - 3:54pm | editor
Nature's Friends Club, an environmental organization from Dhemaji had organized a seminar on abatement of wildlife crime through community participation at its office premises at Kachari Pathar near...
8 Apr 2015 - 10:11am | editor
Dozens of sitting Congress MLAs are likley to stay out of the poll contest early next year. The ruling party is unlikely to field them again. But the party leadership are trying to call it their...
21 Oct 2011 - 1:47am | Anup Biswas
In protest against the attacks on innocent people by Hill Tiger Force (HTF), All Dimasa Youth Organization B Hagjer club, Jalai Khurang Club, Green Hills Society, All Dimasa Women Forum and...
27 May 2016 - 8:21pm | AT Kokrajhar Bureau
A two day international seminar on the topic of 'Orality:the quest for meaning' was concluded today Bodoland University in Kokrajhar district witnesses of participation from abroad scholar and...
Darjeeling — "Human trafficking is one of the biggest criminal enterprises in the world along with drugs and arms trade," says a scholar from Darjeeling. The International Labour Organization’s recent report identifies three kinds of human trafficking, including forced labour, forced sexual exploitation, and state imposed forced labour. The report further explains, "Human trafficking involves the exploitation of a person typically through force, fraud or coercion for the purpose of forced labour, involuntary servitude or commercial sex.” “Human trafficking can take a number of forms,” says the author. “Desperate people might go into debt to smugglers...
Guwahati: A lone voice that has undertaken several peace initiatives over several decades in the conflict ridden northeast India has come out with a new book chronicling and reflecting on the saga of violence perpetrated down the ages. “The book is precisely about the “Collective Anger” that accumulates,” says the octogenarian author. The book traces the anger of the primitive man in self-defense to the aggressive postures of World Powers in our own days. Violence has become so frequent these days that Pankaj Mishra has called our age the Age of Anger. The President of the Pastoral Conference of Northeast India, Archbishop Dominic Jala of Shillong, released...
Silchar : In a rare show of inter-faith display of multi-religious acceptance in an educational institution, a Catholic school in Bharatiya Janata Party ruled Assam state has used Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Jain and Sikh religious symbols in the newly built school facility to inspire and instruct its pupils in tolerance and harmonious living in a pluri-religius setting. Holy Cross Bishop Stephen Rotluanga of Aizwal conducted the blessing of Don Bosco School Silchar Extension building while Salesian Provincial of Shillong Dr George Maliekal unveiled the dedication plaque and inaugurated the building,11 May 2018. Present at the event were Sri Aminul Haque Laskar (MLA), Sri...
Bandel, West Bengal — The head priest of the oldest Catholic church in eastern India has called people to “actively promote peace and harmony in these volatile days by extending good will of tolerance and forgiveness to mark Good Friday commemorating Jesus who died on the cross forgiving his enemies.” “Whatever be our religion or culture, living in peace with fellow humans and in harmony with nature and other living beings as did St Francis of Assisi is the hallmark of Good Friday, and is the only path to co-existence and peaceful living,” says Father T L Francis, prior of Marian shrine at Bandel in Hooghly district. Pointing to a 20 feet wide and 8 feet high mural...
Golaghat — The Departments of Political Science and Sociology at Don Bosco College Golaghat organised a national seminar entitled ‘Conflicts in South Asia: It’s Consequences and Implications’ in collaboration with Salesian College Sonada Darjeeling from 16 to 17 March 2018. Peace activist and socio-cultural academician Prof. Thomas Menamparampil graced the event as chief guest. Prof. Menamparampil, the Chief Guest of the seminar, spoke on a need to build up a “Thought Bank” that will lead to Dialogue and a sense of Co-Belonging – Working for peace. He emphasised the need to promote inter culture communication in which one is able to understand the other and come together through...
Darjeeling — A college in the hills which lost 104 days due to Gorkhaland agitation (June-September 2017) held 3-day study fare as immediate preparation for the upcoming send-up test in preparation for April-May university exams. Over 500 students belonging to 12 departments participated in the event held from 1st to 3rd March 2018. “Study fare is an unique experiment we devised to help students make immediate preparation for the selection test being held next week,” says Campus Coordinator at Salesian College Sonada, Dr Terence Mukhia who conceived the idea. The sessions lasted five hours each day, from 10 am to 3 pm. Each day started in the auditorium with a brief meditation lead by...
Guwahati — Vice-Chancellor of Assam Don Bosco University (ADBU) Fr. (Dr.) Stephen Mavely was conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award by Confederation of Indian Universities on the occasion of 4th International Conference on Environment and Ecology at Gauhati University Auditorium on February 12. The award is an international felicitation given by the confederation as per the recommendation of International Association of Educators for World Peace (affiliated to UN, ECOSOC, DPI, UNICEF). "Don Bosco University has undergone a transformation in the recent years in terms of academics, infrastructure and overall development and has become a preferred institute not only in the...
Siliguri — A group of young people holding a four day interntional youth festival held a peace rally witnessing to the fact that in spite of racial, ethnic, linguistic and religious differences, it is possible for humanity to live in peace. Some 500 young people belonging to Don Bosco group of institutions from the states of West Bengal, Sikkim, Bihar, Jharkhand, and neighbouring country Nepal partcipated in the peace march held on Saturday 27 January. Accompanied by their teachers and mentors - Salesian Fathers, Brothers, Salesian Family Sisters, Teachers, Salesian Alumni and other esteemed dignitaries marched along with young people in Siliguri, the second largest...
Darjeeling — A college community radio in Darjeeling hills plans to set out on a historic “Indo-Nepal Friendship Tour” with a team of Radio Journalists visiting 7 institutions in Nepal managed by alumni of Salesian College Sonada (SCS) to mark its 80th year celebrations as well as 25th year of Don Bosco Society in Nepal. The road show also marks first anniversary of Radio Salesian - first college radio in Bengal and entire northeast India. The tour on Radio Salesian Maruti Omni Van is scheduled to start on Sunday 7th January from Sonada passing through Indo-Nepal Kakrabitta border near Siliguri and proceed to Dharan from where Don Bosco Centre Nepal started and reach...
In a keenly contested environmental energy efficiency project presentation a college in the Darjeeling hills is among four selected out of 22 applicants for the Residential Environments Project (known as RESIDE). It is a four-year research project that aims to evaluate the impact of urban design on energy efficiency. “It is a matter of pride for us to partner in knowledge creation in the field as the only undergraduate college selected for the task,” says Saleisan College Principal Dr George Thadathil. Dr Thadthil adds, “One research scholar will be funded by the project during its first phase.” Further explaining the implications of the project Dr Thadathil says, “The...
Add new comment