e at the School’s annual picnic on November 10. (Left) Students take part in “enactment of folktales” competition at the 4th annual Cultural day held under the theme ‘Relivi
Morung Express News
Dimapur | November 11
At 5:00 AM of November 10, junior students from Government Higher Secondary School, Jalukie (GHSS Jalukie) were already up and knocking on their teachers’ doors. In the dark, they were ready to make fire.
The occasion? An all school annual picnic where each class decorates their picnic spot, cooks on the school compound and builds community.
On offer? Prizes for best food presentation, best picnic spot arrangement and endless excitement.
“As part of our life skills education, each class was asked to do a presentation of the food they prepared under the supervision of the class teachers and prizes were given for best presentation of the food, best arrangement of the picnic spot and best disciplined class during the picnic. Annual Academic, Literary and other prizes were also given out including student of the year, best Assembly conducted, cleanest classroom etc.,” informed Pipi Gloria Chishi, Principal of the GHSS Jalukie.
The 35 teachers of the school are the main support system that holds up these activities.
One Child, One Gift
With 945 students, the GHSS Jalukie was first upgraded to a High School in 1991 and a higher secondary school in 2007. So today, the school runs classes from 6 to 12.
To make learning fun, teachers of the GHSS Jalukie have been initiating various activities apart from academic learning. This year the teachers initiated the project 'One Child, One Gift' where each child was gifted a present at the annual picnic which is usually held on Children’s Day (November 14) but preponed this year due to exams.
“The main purpose of ‘one child, one gift’ is to bring a smile to their faces,” noted Chishi. The teachers put together 30 presents through contributions, with some contributing more to make up for shortfall. Each gift was numbered and students had to draw the corresponding number from a box containing all the numbers.
Said Chishi, “Never have I seen such dedicated and sincere teachers. All the activities of the school are successful only because of the active participation of the teachers. There is also so much of cooperation among the teachers ranging from knitting instructor to primary teachers, GTs and PGTs.”
Other initiatives
As part of the extracurricular activities, on November 8, the GHSS Jalukie celebrated the 4th annual Cultural Day under the theme ‘Reliving the glorious past.’
This year, the highlight was enactment of folktales in the form of role play. Other events were based on traditional games and sport such as indigenous fire making, top spin and strike, grain pound and de-husk etc.
In the previous years, the School organized competition of folk songs, folk dance, wrestling, pole climbing etc. in order for students to be in touch with their roots even a their build a healthy students’ community around them.
In addition, the GHSS Jalukie also took up Swachh Bharat initiatives, particularly inspired by students in Tamil Nadu. Here, the boys’ urinal system has been constructed using empty 20 liter mineral water canisters.
“This has gone a long way in eliminating odor as we have no running water in the toilets. This project was also overseen by one very enthusiastic teacher,” acknowledged the all-encouraging Principal of GHSS Jalukie.
Teachers of the school often go “beyond the call of duty”—earlier this year, they built a retaining wall together for the school. With 51 bighas/21 acre of land but lack of proper infrastructure and fencing, the teachers made a great contribution by building the retaining wall.
Even as government schools succumb to pressures of governance in Nagaland, some are able to rise above them and create their own healthy learning environments.
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