It is a small nondescript village tucked in the foothills of Mopaya of the Namasangmukh range in Tirap district in Arunachal Pradesh. The village, with its picturesque sylvan surroundings transports one to an entirely different world, far from the madding crowd. Inhabited by the Nocte tribe, the village derived its name from Lotha Khunbao, who is still revered as one of the noblest Nocte chiefs. Khunbao was renamed as Narottam–Best among men by Ram Ata of Bali Satra. Since then, this quaint village came to be known as Narottam.

For long, this village remained cut off from the mainstream and the wheels of development stood still. The light of education failed to shine in the village. Till a few decades back, the village remained cocooned in a time warp, with almost no contact with the outside world.

It was in the year 1965. Indira Gandhi, for the first time, visited the eastern frontier of the country, then known as NEFA (present Arunachal Pradesh). The visit made a deep impact on her mind. She was moved when she realised that education was yet to take root in the interior places of Arunachal Pradesh.

To get things started, Indira Gandhi wrote a letter dated July 21, 1965 to a senior monk of the Ramakrishna Mission. “…Since my first visit to NEFA and Nagaland, I have felt the need for some missionary work to be done there by non-interested persons. In this context, the Ramkrishna Mission naturally came to my mind…would it be possible to go to NEFA to start a mission there for doing educational and medical work?”

The Mission responded to the call of kindling the light of knowledge and started two educational institutions, one at Along in Siang district in July 1966, and the other at Narottam Nagar in Tirap district in July 1971.

For the Mission, it wasn’t the easiest of tasks to spread the light of education in this remote corner of the country. They had to surmount a lot of hurdles ultimately, but they succeeded in their mission.

Even as early as in the seventies of the last century when modern education and thought were unknown in this remote part, Dangwang Lowangdong, chief of Namsang, could comprehend its importance. Without changing their faith and customs, modern education would enable his fellow tribesmen to be at par with the others. To set up an educational institution, Lowangdong donated 250 acres of land from the Namsang forest area to the Ramakrishna Mission.

Ramkrishna Mission’s mandate was to make an attempt to educate the people, and its mission was neither cultural invasion, nor religious preaching.

At a time when the literacy rate of Arunachal Pradesh was 11.27 percent (1971 census), the Ramakrishna Mission School at Narrotam Nagar began its venture with 25 girls and 83 boys.

Though it had a small beginning, today it is a fully residential school preparing the students for the All India Secondary School Examination of the Central Board of Secondary Education. This modern school inside a forest has come a long way in imparting education and in its people-oriented activities. A significant section of the students who have passed out from this school are today holding important positions and serving the society in various fields. It now has the proud distinction of achieving cent percent pass results in the AISSE conducted by the CBSE. The students have bagged 34 Government and three prestigious private scholarships, besides topping the State merit list a number of times. One of its students who secured 100 percent marks in mathematics in AISSE, was invited to witness the Republic Day Parade from the Prime Minister’s box at Rajpath, New Delhi.

Over the years, the students of this institution have occupied the top slots in district level science seminars. The school has bagged gold and silver medals in the national level art and essay competitions. Academics apart, the students are also doing exceptionally well in the sporting arena. Students have achieved the distinction of being the district champions in football and runners up in State level gymnastics.

Unlike many other schools across the country, the awards hold a special meaning for this institution. Most of its students happen to be the first in their entire generation to hold a pen. Being first generation students, this school has indeed their performance goes a long way in motivating others to come to school.

Initially, the teachers of the school had a trying time to convince the parents to send their wards to school. With education being a new thing for them, many of them were quite apprehensive.

An ex-student of the school, who is now a public leader and holding a high position, recounted his experience– “My father dragged me like a goat to the school and left me there to study. I used to sniff the teachers and monks. They smelled differently and not like my father or uncle.”

“In the evening, the teacher used to put his finger on the wall and the whole room used to be lighted. I was determined to take this light to my village home. During vacation, I took the bulb from the hostel room and placed it on the wall of our bamboo hut. I went on beating the wall the entire night. But the light never came”

“The boys were outwardly rough,” Swami Bhavaharanandaji observed. “But if one had patience and courage enough to explore the deep recesses of their hearts, one could find childlike simplicity, indomitable curiosity to know the many secrets of Nature and a carefree, nonchalant attitude. They were open to reasonable suggestions. Their way of asking questions might appear rude to a newcomer, but if one is honest and endowed with moral courage, he will discover to his utter delight that they are straightforward and unambiguous in their bearing”.

As a part of its social commitment plans, the school organises free medical camps to help the poor villagers with the and of specialised doctors and specialists. As a part of the programme, renowned ophthalmologist Dr Harsha Bhattacharjee recently visited the school. “I was highly impressed by the functioning of the school. It is very neat and clean, with a well-maintained compound and a garden. The students are disciplined and punctuality is their hallmark,” Dr Bhattacharjee disclosed. Recounting an incident, Dr Bhatacharjee said that a programme was scheduled at 9 in the morning, and it was raining very heavily. Ignoring the inclement weather and without waiting for the chief guest to arrive, the function started right on the dot with all of us standing with umbrellas.”

The foundation of the school was laid on October 3, 1971 by K A A Raja, then the Advisor to the Governor of Assam. It has gone a long way in imparting moral education based on moral, spiritual and scientific values. The dedicated monks, assisted by the sincere teaching and non-teaching staff are also trying to impart the students character building education to make them responsible citizens. The school, whose progress was also reviewed by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, during her visit in 1972, is striving hard to contribute to the society and work for human development, besides spreading the light of education.

Manish Goswami