TURA:
A little known private school in the border town of Dalu in West Garo Hills has proven a point about dedication and hard work after two of its students topped this year’s Class X SSLC exams of MBOSE.
Arghadeep Saha of Woodland Secondary School in Dalu was jointly placed in first position of Meghalaya’s top 20 list for SSLC alongside Amebaaihunsa Kharbhih of St. Paul’s Sec School, Marbisu.
Joining Arghadeep was Biambong A Sangma of the same institute and the only Garo topper in the state list. Biambong secured the 11th position in the state.
This is the first time in the history of Dalu twon that a school, let alone a private one yet to be provided MBOSE affiliation, has obtained two toppers in such a highly competitive examination as the SSLC.
But what is unique about the school, that was started only just in 2005 by a local man Sengkhal A Sangma, has been its consistency in producing success stories for the past seven years.
“Our first batch of students appeared the SSLC exams only just in 2015 and 11 out of 12 candidates cleared the tests,” recalled heradmaster Sengkal while speaking to The Meghalayan on Friday evening.
A teacher himself, who joined the profession as an adhoc teacher in Machangpani village in 2003, Sengkhal Sangma started with just 60 students in the kindergarden section. The school has since grown to over 700 students and plans are underway to establish a boarding for the benefit of students coming from distant places.
Revealing the secret behind the school’s success in this year’s SSLC exams, Sengkhal said that while the rest of the state was under Covid restrictions and lockdowns of education institutions, last year, they decided to have offline classes with small batches of students to
prepare them for the coming tests.
“We all saw the condition of online classes. Students were attending online classes but their minds were elsewhere. Moreover, frequent disruptions in the house coupled with network issues were all around,” recalls the headmaster.
He believes the government decision to conduct online classes and examinations was detrimental to students.
“I was not appreciative of the decision to have online classes because we all knew where it was leading. That is why we opened up small centres consisting of 5 to 8 final year students at five to six centres where students were provided with offline classes and learning material for three hours everyday. Off course we adhered to covid protocols by way of social distancing and hand sanitising including face masks,” says Sengkhal Sangma.
He added that emphasis was laid on the more difficult subjects of science and maths and multiple pre-board tests were conducted to gauge the students abilities.
Topper Arghadeep agrees with his school head as he told this scribe how the constant classes and tests proved to be a boon.
“It was the turning points in our preparation,” says Arghadeep of the offline classes that the school encouraged from August 2021 onwards.
Preparing for the upcoming NEET examination with classmate and topper Biambong A Sangma at a private institute in Guwahati, Arghadeep wishes to be a medical researcher having drawn inspiration from his parents and the school that has made him grow so well in his career.
Biambong A Sangma echos Arghadeep when it comes to the importance of medical science stating that there is an urgent need for more physicians in the community.
Their dreams to make a difference to the lvies of others have just begun, but the seeds were sown over ten years ago when they took the decision to enter a little non-discript school in the town of Dalu.