Our Alma mater needs our inputs!

I had a chat with Jhadeswar Mishra- an assistant teacher of our alma mater and also the most trusted alumni in the school administration- on 13 February 2012. I reminded him that this year it would be the tenth time we’d be sending good wish cards to the Matriculation examinees- on a row. He assured that it would be continued and also told me the following:
Sri Anil Kar- an alumni of 1986 batch- visited the School recently and sportively offered to donate some equipment. Thank you Anil bhai!

The sad part:

Now the student strength has come down to around 750 (from 1200 a couple of years back). Correspondingly in all standards- viii to x- now there are only 4 sections instead of 5.
Both the clerks have retired and none of the vacancies have been replaced.
There is only one Sanskrit teacher instead of 2 and it puts a lot of pressure on him to manage the classes- from class VI to X.
There are only 22 teachers. In most comparable ‘Saraswati Sishu Mandiras’ they have two times that many teaching staff and many have 3 times of that.
I assured that I’d escalate this matter to our concerned alumni and hence this effort.

Our Alma mater needs our inputs! Can we do something to address her concerns?

30 May 2012:
It's more 3 months since I posted the above and it's truly painful that there is no reply! I promised Sri Jhadeswar Mishra- who is the link between the school and the alumni- that I'd escalate the problems and then together with other concerned alumni we'd do something to ameliorate the situation... Now what do I tell him, when I talk to him next? and a talk with him has already become overdue...

Eco-camp for school children:

To build environmental awareness among our future citizens and make them more environmental friendly we- the alumni of DNHS, Police HS and Saraswati Sishu Mandira- have planned an eco-camp for 24 of our school students. The salient features of this project are as follows:
1. 12 students from D N High school, 6 from Saraswati Sishu Mandira and 6 from Police High School.
2. Efforts will be taken to take 12 girl and 12 boy students there by providing equal opportunity to all.
3. Each school will depute one male teacher and one female teacher to accompany the students.
4. All the three heads of the institutions have been requested to go in the inaugural edition.
5. We wish to make it a regular occurrence and integrate this with the activities of the eco clubs.
6. Santosh Mohapatra, a student of Yr-2000 batch of DNHS, is coordinating this from Kendujhar and will accompany the group at the time of its execution.
7. The eco camp will comprise a 5 day workshop at ‘Sambhav’ – Nayagarh and about 2 days for traveling.
Budget:
Fees payable to Sambhav (Rs.300/ per person per day).........= Rs.45,000/-
Souvenir to accompanying teachers (Rs.300/ x 6)....................= Rs. 1,800/-
Traveling expenses of accompanying teachers(Rs.300/ x 6)... = Rs. 1,800/-
Other incidental expenses & contingencies..............................= Rs. 1,400/-
Total.........................................................................................Rs.50,000/-
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Note: the participating students will bear their traveling expenses.
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To know more about ‘Sambhav’ please visit their web site:
http://sambhavorissa.org/home

The project is dependent upon participation.
if adequate support is not received from the alumni of the 3 high schools listed then it would be premature and difficult to execute this project.

Best efforts are made to elicit interest and we are hopeful.

Platinum jubilee on 29 December 2009

As informed by Sri Jhadeswar Mishra; the platinum jubilee function will be held on 29 and 30 December 2009 in the school premises. Honorable chief minister Sri Naveen Pattnaik is expected to inaugurate the function on 29th of December 2009.

All alumni, teachers and ex-teachers, staff and ex-staff and well wishers are welcome to connect/ re-connect with their alma mater.

The genius of Sri Balaram Prusty

Sri Balaram Prusty chose to be a teacher though he could easily have become an administrative officer. His memory and his honesty are legendary. He retired from Orissa Education department, on superannuation and at present – at the age of 72- he is a guiding spirit behind the Old students’ Association of D. N. High School, in which he studied and then taught as an assistant teacher and then administered its affairs as a Head Master. He is among the very few teachers who hated to be a tutor and devoted his entire energy and recourses to character building.

Here is one of the many unforgettable vignettes from his time and life as a teacher:

Last rites of a retired teacher:

Sri Rangadhar Mishra served as an assistant teacher in D. N. High School for almost 3 decades and after retirement continued to stay in his samantaray pur residence, which is just in front of the school. He was highly respected for his dedicated teaching and had a good following. Yet as it happens after retirement he spent most of his time in a small room of his residence and would be found poured over a news paper or a book or contemplating about his good old days.
Sri Balaram Prusty, as his wont, kept a regular touch with his former colleagues and as Sri Rangadhar Mishra stayed in the immediate vicinity of the school there was no exception in his case. It so happened Sri Balaram Prusty visited him just a couple of days before his demise, when the old master complained of aching limbs and hinted that the time has come for departure. Sri Balaram Prusty made light moment of such remarks and tried to convince him that he was still fit for more endurance! Soon after, Sri Rangadhar Mishra passed away and as Sri Balaram Prusty was the headmaster of the school he wanted his earthly remains (dead body) to be brought to the school and all the students and staff paid their last tribute to the departed master. Pupils and the staff of the school renewed a vital value of our human existence- that to show the last respects to a deserving departed soul- which seems to be receding in our quest for quick fixes and lack of commitments to institutions and values.
Sri Balaram Prusty gracefully intimated to the sons of Late Rangadhar Mishra that if they wished, the school would be glad to open its premises for conducting the last rites of Late Rangadhar Mishra, with in the school premises; of course he had already figured it out that it would not interfere with the teaching.
For Sri Balaram Prusty, what was more important was that the departed teacher was a member of the larger family and the school was a living and breathing institution and so in the time of need it was becoming of the institution to stand by its adherents- whether serving or retired..
The last rites of Late Rangadhar Mishra were duly carried out and Sri Balaram Prusty would be remembered for ever for showing such courage and conviction and upholding such enabling values of camaraderie and valor.

19 Sept 2009- Meeting to discuss about the Paltinum Jubilee

It has been informed by the secretary- Mr. Trilochan Das - that the next meeting to deliberate about the "platinum Jubilee" would be held on 19 July 2009 at 3.30 PM in the school premises.

Those alumni, who can make it to the meeting are welcome.

3 Key persons for Platinum Jubilee

Rejuvenation of our alma mater- D N High School- is another wish and if not something great, we can at least help in gathering its folks! And the arrangements for the platinum jubilee lead us towards that end.

The passing away of Dr. KK Behera- president of DNHSOSA- is certainly a great blow yet if we can fire the imagination of a few key stake holders then holding a really successful jubilee function would not be a difficult affair. As per my humble perception the three key persons- old students- for the success of the jubilee functions are:


1) Sri Balaram Prusty, our beloved Prusty sir, who not only served the school for long periods as an assistant teacher but also set an example as a head master. He is the Vice-president of DNHSOSA and with the demise of our president he is the de-facto president. He has also been elected as the president of the ‘Platinum jubilee celebration committee’ (Cell phone no: 9938613636)

2) Sri Jhadeswar Mishra; our beloved Jhadu sir (1976 Batch); as an assistant teacher in DNHS he is our link with the school administration. His proven managerial skills and dedication towards the school is already the talk of the town. He has also been elected as the Treasurer of the ‘Platinum jubilee celebration committee’(Cell phone no: 9438191933)

3) Sri Sandeep Behera; popularly known as Tikoo Bhai (1978 batch). As the successful organizer of “Nanhi pari”- a beauty pageant contest for pre-teen age girls- he has already proven his managerial skills and finding him to be the right fit he has been elected as the Secretary of the ‘Platinum jubilee celebration committee’. (Cell phone no: 9437055345)
And what about you? Please do chip in :)

11th day memorial service for Dr. Karunakar Behera

D.N.High School and the DNHS-OSA are planning to hold an 11th day memorial service for Dr. Karunakar Behera, who was the president of DNHS-OSA since its inception in 1982 till his demise at 3 ‘O’ clock in the morning of 25 July 2009.
The memorial service is planned in the after noon of 3 August 2009 and the school auditorium will serve as the venue.
All concerned alumni of D N High School and concerned citizens of Kendujhar are invited to pay their last respects to Dr. Karunakar Behera, who was loved for his stature and integrity.