NONGPOH:
The Caring Cohort will organise a winter festival in aid of Sati Raja Memorial Secondary School in Umsning, Patarim on December 14 and 15 at the Umsning playground.
Officials and members of Caring Cohort, which is a group of youth who deal with social development, met with the managing committee of the school to discuss and plan out the festival.
Speaking to the press, school principal Balakyntiew Umbah recalled how Sati Raja Memorial Secondary School was started in 2004 by OB Rani and Ri-Bhoi Area Welfare Association (RAWA). The idea was to start a small school consisting of Nursery to Class II for the underprivileged children belonging to Below Poverty Line (BPL) families of Umsning area.
“From then the school has managed on its own, and now we have upgraded to secondary level,” Umbah said while expressing gratitude to Caring Cohort. “Thank You for choosing our school,” she said.
Umbah further spoke about the crumbling infrastructure of the school and how due to lack of funds it is not possible to repair the classrooms.
“We are here to help the underprivileged children, therefore we take the minimum fees so we can’t construct the school and bring it up to standard, but we are providing the best quality education to our students. Our students have won the Subroto Cup for U-17 Girls several times, and last year we lost at the state level in the finals of the Subroto Cup. The school also provides many extra curricular activities so that our students can learn more about basic life skills,” she said.
Umbah said that apart from the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) scheme, the school has not received anything from the government since 2004.
President of Caring Cohort, Silvester Mawthoh, said, “Caring Cohort was formed to support social development, and we chose Sati Raja Memorial Secondary School because after seeing with our own eyes, we noticed that the school is in dire need of the basic necessities. The school, being an institution for children who come from poor families, did not receive any support for infrastructure, and we could see that the classrooms are in a very bad condition.”
Finance secretary of Caring Cohort, PP Kylla, said that the winter festival will help raise funds for Sati Raja Memorial Secondary School.
“There will be stalls with various items set up there during the festival, and there will also be entertainment for children and adults. Kyntiewlin Mawphniang will perform live, and there will also be a DJ and a band that will perform during the event. All the proceeds from the festival will be donated to Sati Raja Memorial Secondary School for it’s infrastructure,” Kylla added.
Caring Cohort invited everyone to attend the festival and be a part of the contribution towards the school.