A healthy interaction is imperative for the learning process. Keeping this in mind, Onslow Govt High School at Chhatrapur in Ganjam has introduced smart classrooms enabling the students to digitally participate in the knowledge acquiring process. With interactive smart boards and other hi-tech gadgets, the students aren’t only getting their doubts cleared, but are having full working knowledge about the subject. This school is on a transformation phase , since the day it joined the Mo School initiative.
Onslow Govt High School was established around 165 years ago in 1855 by eminent Mr. Arthur Pully Onslow during Madras presidency. It is said to be the second oldest school of Odisha after Ravenshaw Collegiate School. The block colony primary school was merged with Onslow Govt High School in 2020. Currently, the school conducts classes from 1 to 10 for 492 students with 19 teachers.
How it started:
To attract more and more students to Onslow Govt High School the management decided to come up with a lasting and smart solution. One of the alumni Sri Sambit Pattnaik came up with the idea to install smart interactive displays in classrooms.He donated Rs. 50000 under Mo School Abhiyan and floated the idea of digital learning for the students. Under the guidance of teacher and Mo School Abhiyan school coordinator Smt. Debasmita Mohanty, the first alumni meet was held on July 29, 2018. Then Head Master in-charge Sri Radhakrishna Nayak was instrumental in the cause.
Since then, the school has received around Rs. 3,29,000from 12 contributors. Major contributors include Skill Development Authority Chairman Sri Subroto Bagchi, alumni member Sri Sambit Pattnaik and Sri Prabhat Kumar Panigrahi. With the 2x financial aid from the government through Mo School Abhiyan, the school now has smart classrooms equipped with digital learning system; two girls’ toilets have been constructed, new furniture has been bought and necessary sports infra has been put in place. After the smart classrooms were installed, students have been expressing more interest to participate in classroom activities.
Apart from financial contribution, former student Sri Sudhansu Sekhar Behera has voluntarily designed the school website. To be in touch with the alma mater, a WhatsApp group of the alumni members is functioning since 2018. Around 200 members are now associated with the group. They are actively participating in discussions and meetings concerning school-related development activities.
The school is now focusing on upskilling teachers to get them well-versed with digital infra and hi-tech technology. ‘Mo School Abhiyan enhanced both the infrastructure and academic development of our school with the cooperation of alumni members and Mo School Abhiyan state office authority’, said present HM of the school Smt Katyayani Nandi. ‘I am glad to be a part of the school and Mo School Abhiyan’, she added. ‘I am grateful to the school authorities to let me be part of the Mo School project. This is a great move by the govt. of Odisha’, said the alumnus of the school Sri Surajit Samantaroy.
