During the forty five years of its existence, the institution has spread its light far and wide. Thousands have passed out of this institution and are occupying important positions in both the private and public sector organisations.

“I'm very happy about it. At least, I have the satisfaction of doing something that is helping the society,” says humbly Daya­chand Napal, a self made man, who heads this college that has carved a name for itself. The college was established  in 1963 with the help and support of his late wife, Nina. There were  few schools in the country side and the working class parents could hardly afford to send their children to far away schools.

Napal says: “My wife and I worked hard to set up the college. We used to do maximum classes along with administrative work. We even held eve­ning classes for our pupils. Ini­tially, classes were carried out in  a four-room rented house with 52 girls and boys.”

Over the years the college has grown by leaps and bounds. Today, it has 20 classrooms for girls and 25 for boys up to HSC. The total student population is about 2000 with more than 70 teachers and 32 non teaching staff.

For its anniversary, the school has different activities on the list: open day for parents, inter college quiz, art, essay. This Saturday it's hosting a lunch  for the parents and grandparents. The prize giving and cultural day will be held before the end of second term. Napal is conscious that  many state schools have opened up which may make the situation difficult in future to get students.

He says: “ Many prefer to go to State colleges which are new and attractive. However, merely going to school won't serve the purpose. Free education is meant to educate the mass.

“The general situation  shows a lack of interest on the part of the students. Many don’t have aspirations and objectives in life. When students don't know in which direction they should go, it becomes difficult for all. My college staff are aware of the situation. They all toil hard in a team. We go beyond teaching and play various parts like counselling, role model and parenting. We assume it as our sole responsibility to guide them.

With  new roles, we hope to serve more students in the fu­ture,” adds Dayachand Napal.

English is not a language of immediate use. But the im­portance of knowing this foreign language cannot be ignored. When one speaks the dialect fluently, reading and writing a foreign language won’t be difficult. This is why all the corners of the school it is marked in bold and red letters: Speak in English.

Jeewanlall Sookhoo, the Head of English department says: “Our intakes are not high performers. Tecahers are well aware of the pupils’ educational background and work hard.

Weakness in the Eng­lish language is mostly about expression. We ask students to speak English, even if they don’t speak correctly, it will come with regular practice.”

An effort made in speaking will have a tremendous im­pact on lear­ning the language. The students have in the past scored good marks in the language. Speaking and reading has improved their performance in the oral exams. They are aware that students don’t like to read and hence it rests upon the teachers to promote the reading habit.

“We motivate them to read in the library and audio visual room. Firstly, teachers show keen interest in teaching and making use of the facilities available. We start the oral class with  Form I to initiate reading and speaking English.

Every week we have two periods allocated specially for reading, listening, reciting stories and ex­tracts in En­glish. We have an effec­tive reading, elocution, and essay competition every year among the students at school as part of the extra curricular activities. This has made a good impact on the students.” The book club project which started with Form I is seen to be fruitful. The school authority plans to extend the project to other forms as well. “If pupils are not able to buy the books, the school has decided to buy for them. This is an incentive we have thought to apply soon. Since the book club is working well and is fruitful with the Form I we are going to extend the club to other forms as well. We try to buy the maximum number of books, so that our students get ample choices to read.” Sookhoo adds.

Veermala Padaruth, Deputy Rector, says there's hardly any problem child in the institution. “The pupils here are more controlled and are managed easily, although it is natural to have children with rebellious nature. Here they seldom rebel. Some students may talk back to the teachers but they don't misbehave,” she adds. However, Veermala feels : “Many parents don’t really come to ask about their children's progress. At times, not even when we need them. It has become common to send a message. They also give phone numbers and ask the school to give a ring. We don't do so as we really don’t know with whom we are speaking. “The role of parents in education should go beyond being a PTA member. If parents get more involved it will be much easier for us to deal with these youngsters in a better way. “Teaching has really become a challenge. It is not at all easy. The biggest challenge for many teachers is how to handle the pupils, which many can't. They have to be very diplomatic, got to be very careful of what they say and how they say it.”

Padaruth feels that teachers should necessarily be provided with some sort of training on how to handle the students. “I believe that the world class quality education can only be possible if the government gives the proper training to the teachers and to the parents also. The parents should get involved as equal and important partners. World class education will remain a dream if it fails to have the equal share and collaboration of teachers, parents, and all involved in the sector,” Veermala adds.

Today’s environment poses risks to our younger generation where one becomes victims of negative role models, peer pressure, ambiguous role expectation etc. The risk behaviour children develop may impede their academic performance.

Soophul Premchand, physical education coach says: “In our effort to improve students’ performances, health and physical exercises are given equal importance. Students are helped to achieve fitness. We teach them to have a commitment to regular exercises as part of their lives.” The school has made provision for sports facilities by setting up a football ground, basketball and volleyball pitches in the school compound. Although the school doesn’t have bigger playground, students enjoy sports like volleyball, basketball, badminton, handball.

However, now the school prides in having a big and spacious gymnasium just ready for the students. “The students make full use of the gymnasium. Indeed they are happy that they won’t miss their games during rainy days. Boys and girls too like all the extra curricular activities and they take part in various inter school, regional and national competitions,” Soophul adds. “Extra curricular activities should also be taken as a means to divert the attention of youngsters from drugs and alcohol.