Mokokchung Night School: A story of candlelit education

Imrongkumba Aier
Mokokchung, September 21

This school has been in the service of education for the past forty-three years, and twenty six years since it was affiliated to the Nagaland Board of School Education (NBSE). The Hills Night High School, Arkong Ward in Mokokchung, perhaps the only night school in Nagaland, is today struggling to stand on its feet, for varied and obvious reasons.
But, forty three years back, in the year 1972, this night school was an educational institute in the town which imparted education to those who could not afford to attend day schooling.
The “acting headmaster” of the school, D Hazar Singh Rai – who is the co-founder of the school along with journalist and writer T Senka Ao – disclosed that the school first started off as Model Night High School in 1972. It first started off as a tutorial institute, but since the enrolment of the students increased, it was turned into a night school.
The school sought affiliation with the Nagaland Board of School Education (NBSE) and was registered in 1989. “We had and have no business motive. Our sole motive was to give education to the poor students, the dropouts and others who do not get a chance of getting education,” said Hazar Singh Rai, the founding member and the headmaster of the school. He is an experienced teacher who retired as a government high school headmaster.
The school has around fifty students now, studying from Class V to X. Quite encouragingly, this year the school even had a student who passed out through the NBSE exam. The Hills Night High School has nine faculty members including the headmaster. All the teachers are working in different private schools who voluntarily teach at the Night School.
“We have students who go for daily-wage earning during the day time and attend classes during the evening. And that’s what make our service at this institution worthwhile,” said Tianaro, who has been voluntarily teaching at the school for the past five years. She is also a teacher at Jubilee Memorial School, a prestigious private school in Mokokchung.
But the school is struggling to survive
“We, the teachers, are contributing from our own pockets, to buy the stationeries and everything. Whatever little money we receive from the students as fees, is being spent on maintenance of the school. We couldn’t even host the jubilee celebration of the school,” said Tianaro.
The headmaster’s office is a nondescript chamber – a framed portrait of Mother Teresa adorns a side of the wall, a small steel almirah to store documents, some chairs, a small desk, a globe and that’s all. But, this school has produced some students who have become dignitaries in the society.
The past few weeks when Mokokchung town was undergoing massive power outage due to the damage caused to a power transformer was a tough period since the classes had to be conducted under candle lights.
The school normally runs from 3 to 6 pm, but depending on situations/conditions like power supply, weather etc, the class hours are changed constantly.
“What we desperately need now is a generator since it is a night school and computers and printers for the sake of the students,” said Hazar Singh Rai, “But we cannot afford it.” The school still uses the ‘blackboard and chalk’ while others have opted for whiteboard and marker pens; even the classes are conducted in the private building of Mr Rai.
The faculty members expressed a deep desire for the government to render some help and at least provide some logistical support so that the underprivileged students who cannot afford proper education as day scholars won’t be deprived of their basic need of education.
While the whole nation and even the Naga society is aspiring for 100 percent literacy rate, perhaps the night schools, which have played a pivotal role in the field of education in the past years, can be revived so that those students who cannot afford day school can at least get some basic education. It is up to the community and the government to respond. But as of now, and most importantly, the underprivileged students at Hills Night High School are waiting for some kind of help. Any help.