Members of the alumni association of Netarhat Vidyalaya have come forward to help current students of the residential school by opting to take online classes that were disrupted by the shortage of teachers and connectivity problems.
“We stepped in when we found the online classes were suffering because of inadequate faculty and connectivity issues,” said Colonel (retired) B.B. Singh, a former student and a member of of Netarhat Old Boys Association (Noba).
Singh, who lives in Delhi, said the network problem was fixed and Noba members volunteered to take classes.
The residential school spread over 780 acres in the sylvan surrounding of Netarhat hill was established by the then Bihar government in 1954 as a centre of excellence. The students, chosen through a selection process, have excelled in various fields across the globe since then.
Screenshots of online classes
Run by the Bihar government earlier, the school is now being managed by the Jharkhand government.
Though the school was earlier affiliated to the state school board, it is now a CBSE affiliated institution.
“The first batch will appear for the CBSE board examination in February-March (2021),” principal Santosh Kumar said, admitting that the classes suffered due to shortage of teachers and connectivity issues.
The school had 27 teachers out of the total sanctioned posts of 47, the principal said, adding that the former students have extended a helping hand by by taking classes, particularly in science subjects.
“The school has always maintained excellent record in the Class X final examinations with the students grabbing most of the top 10 ranks,” principal Singh said.
He, however, agreed that it was not the same with Class XII exams as many good students join other schools after passing Class X.
“Many good students now opt for CBSE schools. So the students of Netarhat school have to face stiff competition, that too at a national level,” Colonel Singh pointed out, adding that the Noba members were trying to make up for the loss of classes so that the students perform well in their first CBSE examination.
“Making their presence felt in the CBSE exams at the national level will be a real challenge for the students,” he said.
Singh said the school was not getting as many good students as it used to get before.
Earlier, over 25,000 students would compete for 60 seats that would be offered at the entry level, but much less number of students show interest for the 100 seats offered now as many other good schools have been opened in the state, he explained.
“Taking online classes is a new activity for Noba members. Besides old students, a few women who are either wives of Noba members or daughters of former teachers, have also volunteered to take online classes,” he said.
“I have been taking two online maths classes every day for students of classes X and XII,” said Priya Ranjan, an old student and IIT-Kharagpur alumnus who returned from Maryland (US) to teach at SRM University in Andhra Pradesh.
