Staff Reporter
DIMAPUR, APRIL 18
Of the many charms that have wrapped the town of Mokokchung in a perpetual sepia-tinted romance; perhaps the most stirring yet is that of the quiet, aged dignity it so effortlessly seems to carry. Not dissimilar that peculiar, warm stirring we experience in the company of our grandparents – aged but ageless.
And, again, of all the places at Mokokchung that have in its DNA this unique brand of old charm stored in its structure, one certain institution stands peerless. Because nothing quite prepares you for the threadbare dignity mirrored in the wizened features of Mayangnokcha Government Higher Secondary School.
The old institution, older than the state of Nagaland itself, creaks under the weight of its own storied history, much like the town. Established in the year 1941 as the first Middle English School at Mokokchung, which was still an administrative sub-division back then, today it is not so much an institution as a monument.
Records say that the first year of the school registered 130 students for Classes 3 to 6, which in retrospection is an impressive figure. The school started with eight teachers, with Mayangnokcha as the headmaster.
Back then, in the Naga Hills District, it was the only other Middle English School after the one at Kohima. However, the school that we know of today really came into shape two years after the first chorus of A-B-C was sounded inside the classroom.
Because it was during that time that the people of the area – which in present-day geography include the districts of Mokokchung, Wokha, Zunheboto, Tuensang, Longleng and Mon – took it upon themselves to start a private-funded High School. The year was 1943, and back then the only High School in all of Naga Hills District was located at Kohima.
Again, records show us that the first batch of students from this private school secured 100% success result in the HSLC exam conducted by the Gauhati University in 1947. Response arrived the next year in April as the then administrators rolled the two schools into one and ran it as Government High School Mokokchung.
Forty-seven years later, in 1994, the school was rechristened as Mayangnokcha High School in honor of the institution’s first headmaster, who also was the first graduate among the Aos and second among the Nagas.
In 2002 it was accorded Higher Secondary status and introduced Commerce studies. Other two academic streams, Science and Arts, followed in 2003 and 2010 respectively.
The spine of this old institution, however, is built in the distinguished names that it has schooled over the decades. Personalities who have gone on to stamp indelible marks in Naga history – like Dr SC Jamir, Dr Hokishe Sema and Khodao Yanthan, to name but three – were forged inside the hallowed walls of this grand institution.
Even today, the school is the only institution in Mokokchung that offers Higher Secondary education in Arts, Science and Commerce. Its current student enrollment stands at more than 1200.
It is beyond questioning that, over the decades, Mokokchung has pioneered, and also suffered, drastic amounts of change. And all through it, the one thing that has refused to be tainted it its quiet dignity. And nothing illustrates this better than the resilience of its grand old institution.
