RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

Mo­hess Road SDMS Hin­du School, the al­ma mater of for­mer Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar cel­e­brat­ed its 70th an­niver­sary last Thurs­day.

Dur­ing a spe­cial func­tion to com­mem­o­rate the Plat­inum Ju­bilee, school prin­ci­pal Shievanand Gokool re­called the days when class­es were held in a small wood­en struc­ture.

Say­ing over 4,000 stu­dents have ben­e­fit­ted from an ed­u­ca­tion at the school over the years, Gokool said they were proud of the suc­cess­es they have en­joyed, in­clud­ing the fact that they pro­duced a Prime Min­is­ter.

He said three stu­dents Gir­i­ja Ram­nar­ine, Ajay Seecha­ran and Ri­car­do Kalloo placed in the top 100 list of the Sec­ondary En­trance As­sess­ment Ex­am­i­na­tions this year.

"In the Baal Vikaas com­pe­ti­tion host­ed by the SDMS an­nu­al­ly, Mo­hess Road Hin­du has placed 1st and 2nd in the Hin­di cat­e­go­ry and has qual­i­fied for the fi­nals many times in the past. We have al­so placed 1st and 2nd in the Folk Song cat­e­go­ry as well as placed 3rd in the cham­pi­onship in the small school cat­e­go­ry in years gone by," he said.

"In the Vic­to­ria Ed­u­ca­tion Dis­trict and oth­er sport­ing com­pe­ti­tions, our school has ex­celled, one year win­ning the Vic­tor and Vic­tress Lin­do­ri­um in the Vic­to­ria Ed­u­ca­tion Dis­trict," Gookool said. Say­ing the school will con­tin­ue to pro­mote the holis­tic de­vel­op­ment of the stu­dents, Gookool said they con­tin­ue to ex­pose the chil­dren to reg­u­lar field trips, Phag­wa Cel­e­bra­tions and oth­er com­pe­ti­tions such as art and singing com­pe­ti­tions.

Mean­while, Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Mooni­lal al­so con­grat­u­lat­ed the school on its Plat­inum Ju­bilee cel­e­bra­tion.

"We are fac­ing many chal­lenges, es­pe­cial­ly in the Ed­u­ca­tion sec­tor and my of­fice, to­geth­er with the sup­port and co­op­er­a­tion of busi­ness­es and well-wish­ers in the con­stituen­cy, will con­tin­ue to schools and stu­dents," Mooni­lal said.

He said dur­ing the pan­dem­ic, stu­dents were equipped for on­line learn­ing to con­tin­ue their Ed­u­ca­tion. He al­so called on the gov­ern­ment to com­plete the Ra­mai Trace Hin­du school.

Coun­cil­lor for Bar­rack­pore West Nicholas Kan­hai who was al­so a past stu­dent com­mend­ed the prin­ci­pal, staff, stu­dents and all stake­hold­ers for pro­vid­ing a safe and com­pet­i­tive learn­ing space for stu­dents. He pledged to con­tin­ue lend­ing sup­port to the school.

Mo­hess Road Hin­du school opened its doors in 1953 by the late Bhadase Sagan Ma­haraj and the Late Shri Sat­narayan Ma­haraj, who fought to pro­vide an ed­u­ca­tion for stu­dents in the area.

In 1993, a con­crete struc­ture re­placed the wood­en struc­ture.

Fol­low­ing a poo­ja (Hin­du prayers) at the school, stu­dents were pro­vid­ed with a com­mem­o­ra­tive copy­book and pen­cil as well as a treat bag.