Commendable activities of St. Michael’s School in Durgapur since 1966

  

Commendable activities of St. Michael’s School in Durgapur since 1966

In recent years, Durgapur has developed immensely as an education hub of Bengal. After Kolkata, Durgapur is perhaps the only place in West Bengal where one finds such huge concentration of School, College and Institutions. The city has now been one of the pioneers in introducing modern education in the state and the country. Even today, the local government is working hard towards development of the educational sector of the city. Among the prominent CBSE & ICSE Schools in Durgapur, St. Michael’s School in Bidhan Nagar is one of the best in this City now. This school was established in the year 1966.  The Rt. Rev. Probal Kanto Dutta took over the charge as the Bishop of Durgapur and the Chairman of the School from October 2003. Under his dynamic leadership other four branches have been established so far and are situated in Raniganj, Bankura, Sarenga and Adra. Presently the school has more than 3500 students and  is a co-education school. Since the inception this School caters the needs of the students from all strata of Society and the school  believes that fair chance should be given to the weaker sections also who are not able to get much further in society due to poverty and lack of opportunity.

The Present Principal Mrs. Madhumita Singh who has taken over the charge from 2009 says, “Our School is a Christian Minority Institution, unaided under the Diocese of Durgapur, Church of North India. I feel, the role of the school today is not only to provide knowledge according to the syllabus but also to equip them from the world beyond the classroom. It is the role of the school to teach life skills to the child so as to strengthen his or her character and develop leadership qualities. Sufficient opportunities are provided to the children to look “outside the box”. Our children learn to be responsible citizens so that they can contribute effectively to community life. The school has a huge campus with well-equipped science and computer laboratories and a large library. A new floor with more classrooms was inaugurated in April 2011. A school for underprivileged children ‘UDAAN’ has been inaugurated in June 2011 to sensitize the children to the needs of the community and inculcate values like sharing and caring for others. ”

‘UDAAN’ is a school  for the under privileged students some of them who have been never to School. Free education is given to the neighborhood children irrespective of  caste and creed.  It is run in the afternoon where some of the senior students and staff member voluntarily teach the students.  Moreover, the children are provided a small tiffin. We hope definitely many students will come up from this downtrodden group of children.

Our students are encouraged to take part in physical activities as well. The Principal believes that a healthy body is as important as a healthy mind.

The Principal clarified the meaning of Udaan – the flight of bird. It is the humble endeavour of the school to provide wings to these flightless children so that they can experience the joys of learning, of giving expression to their creativity and talents.

We try to help our students in many ways. We support children who are absolutely unable to pay their school fees. Besides the 1st Ranker in any class gets a Scholarship; and are exempted from paying the tuition fee. In fact we support innumerable student financially. As for instance, this year a couple  died in the road accident and their elder daughter is still now reading in our school and the school has taken care of her Tuition Fees and we  encourage her in all walks of her life.

Under Bishop Rt.Rev. Dr.Probal Kanto Dutta, and his able leadership as the Bishop and Chairman of the school, the school has grown from strength to strength in all spheres.

The Principal is of the opinion that with her well qualified and competent staff the school with scale newer heights of acclaim and will enable the school students to perform even better in the Board Examinations.

The Diocese of Durgapur, under which the school functions as a part of its Education Ministry, is going to celebrate 40 years of its Foundation. This Historic occasion is going to be marked by many events throughout the coming year.

Kanchan Kumar Chatterjee.