Celebrating 75, nostalgic 'Nirakar' students going 'Back to School'
GOANEWS DESK, PANAJI | 04 November 2015 22:34 IST
What would be your feeling to go back to your school and attend the classes with your peers and the retired teachers? And play games? And dance or sing? And have all that fun, which you otherwise dream as ‘golden days’?
Well, the unique experiment is made by Nirakar Parivar, in a border village of Goa in Canacona taluka, while celebrating 75 years of the Nirakar Education Society.
Started with Mushtifund (handful of rice towards teacher’s salary and fund), the 1939-40-founded Nirakar Vidyalay is getting back its aged teachers, who have crossed 70 and 80 years, along with their students who have also crossed 40 and 50.
Purely a nostalgia trip, with 10 different events stretched out throughout the day, from 8.30 in the morning till 6.30 in the evening.
Spend the whole day with your lost classmates and missed out teachers….
“We expect not less than 1000 ex-students and ex-teachers to attend this unique mega event on 15th November”, said Prashant Naik, President of Nirakar Education Society.
The Mashem-Loliem-based highly acclaimed educational Society today runs six institutes – Nirakar High School, S S Angle Higher Secondary School and Konkani primary school in Mashem and Tudal High School and Konkani primary school in a tribal village of Gaodongrim.
BACK TO SCHOOL
It would begin with the old-time Assembly of Prarthana and Pratidnya in the then Marathi-medium school, the students would then go and sit in the classrooms, choosing their teachers who are travelling down to the village, which is 100 kms from Panaji.
All three schools would then gather together at Nirakar Maidan at Dapot in Mashem, to spend the whole day together playing, dancing and singing.
The games too are like Kabaddi and Kho-Kho, besides Volleyball and Tenni-koit and demonstrations of rarely practiced nowadays - Lezim and Mallakhamb.
“We are trying to rope in maximum number of ex-students also for sports, including the champions of those days”, said Bhushan Prabhugaonkar, one of the ex-student, who is now Sarpanch of Loliem-Pollem village.
It would end with cultural programmes, obviously to be performed by ex-students along with the present students.
But a better highlight than this would be the unique Pavnni (Auction) of village-grown fruits and different hand-made items prepared by the students – another practice followed for fund raising by the Society till the 20th century ended.
INSPIRATION & GRATITUDE
Addressing a press conference in Canacona today afternoon, Naik said the event would not be a mere fun but also an ‘educational’ event, keeping in tune with the tradition of Nirakar Parivar.
The Society has invited as a chief guest Dr Mangesh Karad, a Pune-based educationist running MIT Group of Institutes, to listen to this Latur-based freedom fighter-farmer’s son.
And a lecture by yet another village-born educationist Bhaskar Nayak, Goa’s dynamic director of higher education, to speak on ‘Social Commitment of being 75.’
“To pay gratitude to our teachers, we will also felicitate around 20 former teachers and teaching staff, even posthumously” said Santosh Lolayekar, the Electrical Executive Engineer, who heads the fund committee as Nirakar ex-student.
In order to inspire today’s generation, the Nirakar Parivar has also arranged interviews with six luminaries, who studied in these three institutions and attained heights in different fields through struggle.
These include Anthony D’Souza, the first IGP of Goan cadre; Gopal Prabhugaonkar, a leading businessman; Prasad Lolayekar, Director of Art & Culture; Ramesh Gaonkar, Mamlatdar from Gaodongrim; Sushma Pawar, jury on Goa’s Child Welfare Board and Dr Cajy Silva, a marine biologist, Tiatrist and filmmaker.
In addition, the Nirakar Parivar is also showcasing the artists and writers they produced, by displaying their drawings and books at the exhibition stalls.
In fact the whole celebration begins one week in advance, with ‘Run for Nirakar’ on 8 November, on Sunday morning, from Poinguinim and Loliem, to be culminated at Mashem.
On 15th the Sunday, said Naik, the morning session would be limited only for the ex-students and ex-teachers, but the programmes from afternoon onwards would be a public event.
“I call upon all our ex-students and the general public to attend this historic event and make it a success”, he appeals.
The events are also publicised on Facebook page while the Society also runs a unique website, especially with all the SSC batch photos since 1962.
THE 10 EVENTS
FOR EX-STUDENTS
8.30 am
Run for Nirakar (8 November)
8.30 am
Back to School (15 November)
10.30 am
Demonstrations: Lezim, Mallakhamb & Drill
Matches: Kabaddi, Kho-Kho, Volleyball, Tenni-koit
PUBLIC PROGRAMME
2.30 pm
Inspirational Interviews: Select Ex-student Social Leaders from 3 Institutes
4.00 pm
Felicitation of Ex-Teachers & Non-Teaching Staff
Lecture by Bhaskar Nayak: ‘Social Commitment of being 75’
Pavnni: Auction of village-grown fruits and items prepared by students & parents
5.30 pm
Cultural Programme: By ex-students & present students
Daylong Exhibitions: Paintings drawn by & Books written by ex-students
Programme very innovative worth emulating elsewhere. Can make Goa a better place if one goes to the roots. Only caution here is the ex-students shud not carry with them new baggage of their pomp ego achievements. One shud be humble and "innocent" to make such events paying n making one more responsive.
Looking forward towards this great event. ..happy to be a part of Nirakar parivar.