Is The Heritage Of The ‘ Laban Assamese Girls’ HS School’ At Risk?

“The rise in central institutions and offices in and around Shillong, is concomitant to the rise of many well to do Assamese families in the city and around. However, they seldom show any interest in the matter, forget about sending their children to the school. Probably, majority of them don’t even know about glorious past of the School”—lamented V. Dipali Sharma Rao, the principal of Laban Assamese Girls’ Higher Secondary School, Shillong.

What is the matter that the school principal is deeply concerned about? Well, her words reflect the possible fading of a glorious past of the Assamese community in Shillong. Before discussing what is at stake, let’s peep through the history briefly, omitting which will be an inadvertent mistake to grasp the matter.

1^st July, 1918 heralded a new beginning for the Assaemese community in Shillong. On that day, an Assaemese medium LP (Lower Primary) school got birth at Laban. Stalwarts like Kamalakanta Baruah,  Sasidhar Baruah, Sonadhar Senapati, Manikchandra Hazarika collectively shaped the future for the Assamese community who migrated to Shillong during the colonial period to get engaged in government jobs. What started with the Laban’s LP school in 1918 traversed an upward path and we see the ‘Laban Assamese Girls’ higher Secondary School’ today.

Formation of Assam Club in 1896 to 2013: The Flow Of History In a Nutshell

The Assam Club of Shillong was established in December 1896, which bears a definite  signature of the presence of Assamese people in Shillong to that period. Sharing her knowledge on it, Dipali Sharma Rao told Pratidin Time—“the presence of Assamese people in Shillong can be traced back to 1892-1894 but it is not clear the reason of the migration in such an ancient time. However, history clearly tells that they settled in and around Laban, which happened to be the central location of Shillong till the colonial period. With increase of the population, people felt the need for a place of gathering and that’s how the Assam Club came into being.”

However, two events thereafter, firstly the 1897 earthquake when Shillong got massively affected and the partition of Bengal in 1905, left the Assamese community in Shillong worn out, Mrs. Rao recalled. Again during 1912-1914 the migration started and there were nearly 40 families by 1914 at Laban.

 During that time, the Bengali community chose the Bengali medium schools for their children and the Assamese also felt the crying necessity of an Assamese medium school.

“The first head mistress of the Laban LP school established in 1918 was Dharmeswari Hazarika. She was given the responsibility being educated till the LP level, which was a big thing those days, at least for Assamese people. our old school records show that Bhabanikanta Baruah, the son of Kamalakanta Baruah was the first student enrolled in the LP school”—Dipali Sharma Rao reminisced.

A decade passed and the Laban LP school was upgraded to the ME (Middle English) level in 1930  and eventually to the High School in 1935. The High School then moved from the earlier location to the one that Laban Assamese Girls’ HS School is currently located near the Laban Namghar.

However, as Dipali Sharma Rao told, in 1992, the Meghalaya Government passed a rule through which the medium of instruction of all the schools in the state became English. But, the Assamese subject was in the syllabus and so as the Bengali and Khasi. It is continuing in this fashion till date.

Since the 1992 Meghalaya government rule, the once Assamese medium school turned into a cosmopolitan one where now study Khasi, Bangali and Assamese students. “However, Khasi students have enrolled in the school since 1952”— Dipali Sharma Rao told.

As recently as 2013, the high School took the present form, which is ‘Laban Assamese Girls’ Higher Secondary School’.

Meghalaya Government Provides Salaries

Apprising us about how the school functions, she  told that teachers till 10^th standard are salaried by the Meghalaya government. The higher secondary classes are run privately to manage the salary of teachers.

“The government support is just enough to meet the salaries, electricity and telephone bills. In other cases support from government is almost nil. We manage the repairing and other necessities by donation”—she told. 

Principal Dipali Sharma Rao also apprised  that Assamese comprise half of the total quota of teachers in the school while Khasi teachers comprise the other half. However, the school managing committee is Assamese majority. 

Reluctance of Assamese to Study or Work in the heritage school: The Big Concern

A trepidation is growing deeply amongst concerned  People like Dipali Sharma Rao and others that the heritage school will see fading away of its glorious past. The primary reason is the reluctance of the Assamese community to send their children to government school.  Moreover, the growing reluctance in the community to participate in uplifting  the heritage school.

Sharing a recent experience, Dipali Sharma Rao told us—“In a recent interview for a teacher there was not a single Assamese candidate. In this process, the managing committee will also go from the hands of our people. It is a shared responsibility of all of us to protect the heritage of the school .”