Schooling at NJH

Whenever one has to serve at remote locations like ours, one of the first questions that people like me with young children usually ask is about a good school in the nearby vicinity. The popular notion was that there was no good school near NJH. And was many a time quoted by people who had worked there as a major challenge to get qualified people there. 

I knew that there was a good Catholic school in Daltonganj during my previous stint at NJH. However, being a bachelor and having had not made much of any plans of coming back, I did not give much thought to this matter. 

However, on reaching back and having a young boy who was almost ready to go to school, I had to take a call. We had to send Shalom a year earlier to school as he was quite insistent that he goes to school. And we also thought that we will get a feel of how good schooling is at Daltonganj. 

The school has been the alma mater of quite a few of our staff kids who have gone to well placed positions in life. I hope that many of them would respond to this post.

Managed by the sisters of the Sacred Heart congregation, the school completed 43 years of it's service to at least 2 budding generations of Daltonganj and it's surroundings. As has been the major contribution of the church in education throughout the country, the school has lived up to the standards and is a prestigious institution to get admitted into. 

We are thankful that the school has been a blessing to many of our staff over the years. 

The reason I thought about putting this post was the quite impressive performance the teachers and students under the able leadership of Sr. Jossy Mathew, put up in their recent Annual Function. 

The theme of the program was 'Sangam' - a portrayal of religions in India . . . Below are the snaps . . . 

Sr. Jossy Mathew, Principal accompanying the Chief Guest, Bishop Gabriel Kujur to the dias

Lighting of the lamp

The first dance . . .  Quite a spectacle

Creation story by the tiny tots . . . Note Adam and Eve standing on the right  side

Jharkhand tribal dance . . .

Dandiya dance .. .. ..

Jain dance . . . 

Showcasing the Budha

Sr. Jossy addressing the gathering . . . 

The English choir . . . 

Bioscope . . . which I thought was the best program

Another dance . . .

Quwwali . . . 

The Hindi choir . . . 

English drama . . . Merchant of Venice. 

The Christmas story . . . 

Western dance . . .

Another one . . . 

The Bhangra dance . . . 

Closing program . . . the sangam

Overall, it was a very a nice and well arranged program. 

One more anecdote about schooling for staff at NJH. I was quite concerned about Shalom travelling about 50 kilometers every day to attend school. About a year back, I was narrating this to one of my friends. He told me that I was lucky. Why? His son was travelling about 10 kilometers one-way by bus everyday through the dusty roads of Delhi every day . . . but the journey took more than a hour due to traffic. And that was almost two and a half hours of travel everyday through a very polluted environment. 

Kids at NJH do the journey in about 40 minutes . . . and the journey through a very pristine environment. 

So, that's for people who are resisting from joining us on account of poor educational opportunities . . .