August 27
An idylic, distant tribal hill village on the Sheveroy hills with treacherous road access (heavily damaged and only now being repaired at a painfully slow pace) on Sunday showcased splendid sporting talents amidst a slew of thought provoking and skillful cultural events.
It was indeed a showcasing of a saga of human empowerment of the 21st century.
823 tribal children from - many of them first generation school goers whose future would have remained a big question mark even today (as education had not reached the scores of tribal villages in the Sheveroy hills even till the year 2000), were those displaying their empowerment through high standards of sporting and artistic skills at the 18 th. Annual Sports Day of the Montort Tribal Community School in Kombuthooki tribal village. Started off as a bridge school for drop outs with seven students in the year 2000, the community school has grown into a full fledged higher secondary school boasting of public school level facilities.
The tribal children from 22 villages in the area are provided free high quality education, food, transport, uniform and high standard of training in sports and arts and free boarding and lodging for students who take up public exams. For producing cent percent result in public exams and wining divisional level sports trophies and sending performers to state and national level contests the school founder correspondent Bro.Dr. George K.J was awarded the prestigious Dr.Ambedkar award in January by the Tamilnadu Government. The institution undertakes comprehensive development activities including socio-economic uplift and health outreach.
Once a non-descript drought prone village Kombuthooki in Maramangalam Panchayat is now the venue of the 21st century human empowerment model which attracts dignitary visitors round the year.
On Sunday evening it was Salem Superintendent of Police, Georgy George who scaled the difficult mountain terrain to inaugurate the 18 th. Annual Sports Day themed," My School My Gateway to my Future". When he entered the flags fluttering play ground which had once been a rocky steep, now leveled and made into a classy sports arena, the school band comprising primary, junior and senior class children, accorded him a splendid welcome. Following a well orchestrated Tamil anthem and invocation songs, contingents of 145 students including NCC, Scouts and Guides cadets led by school pupil leaders V.Tamilarasan and Yagarani (both have excelled in sports and arts and academics) gave a colorful march past. Each contingent was led by boys and girls whose laurels in academics and sports at the district, zonal and state levels were announced in a bid to encourage them and motivate others. Gold medalists Raman, Kalavani and Lakshman brought the olympic torch and took the pledge.
The Superintendent of Police declared open the 18 th. Sports Day. Seen in full form after hectic practice boys and girls gave very high quality performance. According to Bro. George .K.J, the founder correspondent of the school, some of the school's sports persons were capable of competing at national and international levels giving the encouragement. As the sporting events unfolded, the, Little Champs of Primary Class rendered a body movement dance driving the message of importance of physical work and value of time. The children endured the lengthy performance involving intricate movements proving their mettle.A troupe of senior girls came dressed in typical aboriginal costumes and rendered a dance conveying eco-friendly life style message. The tribal children also displayed talent with pyramid and aerobic dance performances.
Old students who now pursue engineering degrees and other courses had come as far as Chennai to participate in completions arranged for them showed their involvement with their alma matter.
" Almost every student is participating atleast in one event and some in as many as four," said a teacher. For the tribal parents who had little or no education it was proud moment to see their children in sporting and colourful cultural event costumes.
Expressing awe, Georgy George said, what he saw was of high standards. He reminded the parents that education can make a lot of difference to a person's outlook and status in life. He appealed to the tribes men not to stop their children's education at any circumstance. To the children he said that setting of goals, attempts to attain them and resilience from failures were the ingredients of success.
The Superintendent of Police gave away the cups and the shields to the winning teams. The Pandiyan house got the overall championship with 229 points, Chola house emerged runners with 224 points and the Cheran house got 137 points. Guest of Honour, G.Nagaraj, School patrons and well wishers, Abdul Razak, Sathyendran, Bro.George Padikaran, Bro.Thomas.K.M, Bro.Anotony P.J were among those who gave away prizes to winners of individual events.
When the events were ending, the sun was descending behind the western flanks of the hill range and the Olympic flame was still aglow. The scene of rich with symbolism. Lives of generations of living in darkness (without literacy and electricity) had been brightened by education for the tribals of this generation. In the closing school anthem song fitting the moment, the children sang, " Show the flame of life, no distance is too far as dreams can bridge reality. Hoist the victory flag; study to win....." It was almost dark when the curtains came down and the children were sent safely to their distance villages some 15 to 6 kms away by school bus service which provides free service daily.
While parents were wading though the forests effortlessly in the dark night to reach their homes, they were indeed filled with pride and were rest assured their children's bright future was guaranteed.
CFCM News
(Centre for Community Media)