Building classrooms, imparting life skills

September 7, 2022 43 Views No Comment

The story of Mimi Yhoshü, recipient of National Award to Teachers 2022

Vishü Rita Krocha
Kohima | September 7

In 2015, when the Government Middle School (GMS) in Officers’ Hill, Kohima was upgraded from a Primary School, it also came with the challenge of not having enough classrooms to accommodate all the students. There were only three classrooms at that point of time. It was this shortage that motivated Mimi Yhoshü, the Head Teacher of the school to initiate fund-raising activities with the help of her colleagues, parents, guardians, students and the School Management Committee (SMC) with the sole purpose of meeting the needs of the children.

This went on to draw the attention of the then Governor of Nagaland, PB Acharya who donated building material. “We could build two kacha classrooms in 2018,” she told The Morung Express in an exclusive interview. Further motivated with the development of the school infrastructure, the community contributed resources to replace the two kacha classrooms with concrete building in 2021 and with the community support, the school currently has nine classrooms.

The story of this inspirational teacher from Nagaland also stood out at the award ceremony of the National Award to Teachers, 2022 even as Mimi Yhoshü, the lone recipient from Nagaland this year received the honour from the President of India, Droupadi Murmu, at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi for her ‘unique contribution.’

With a teaching career spanning a period of 18 years, she is among 46 teachers from across the country who were conferred the prestigious award comprising of a certificate, a silver medal and a cash award of Rs 50,000.

Yhoshü is elated to receive the prestigious award as she expressed, “It is like a dream. I am very happy but also a little worried thinking if I will be able to do justice to the award but I will continue to give my best.” Dedicating the award to her beloved students and fellow colleagues, she emphasized that, “they are the backbone of this award.” She is also thankful to the Department of School Education for helping her come this far.

But it isn’t just the construction of the classroom buildings that she has been recognised for. She also firmly believes that besides the cognitive development, school children should be imparted with life skills. This is precisely why students from Class 4-8 at the GMS, Officers’ Hill are taught to make products both out of degradable and non-biodegradable waste.

“We usually invite resource persons to teach our children how to knit, crochet, or stitch pot holders by making use of old used clothes,” she highlighted. Besides this, the children also create decorative items such as baskets out of degradable waste like waste paper, tissue paper, etc.

Also recognising the hazard caused by non-biodegradable waste, the children are taught to follow the ‘3 Rs’ of waste management— Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. “They recycle the non-biodegradable waste into some productive objects.

By using plastics, we made doormats and bags and just constructed a part of a wall by using empty water bottles….we are collecting the bottles,” she put across. “The best part of it is that the children also enjoy a lot and learn something at the same time,” she added.

At the beginning of it all, the school did not have any capital for these activities and it was Mimi Yhoshü, who shelled out from her own pockets and invested on the initiatives. As the products of the life skill works got sold, the school also began to generate interest, which they utilise for further development of the school.

Mimi Yhoshü hails from Kigwema village and is a graduate of Kohima Science College, Jotsoma. She subsequently went on to pursue B.Ed in 2009 and Diploma in Education in 2013 respectively. As the Head Teacher, she currently looks after the administration and also teaches Science subject for classes 5 and 6.

Teaching happened to her unplanned even as she said that, “maybe it’s my destiny to be in this profession. It’s a challenging thing but fun to be in the school because we are dealing with human resources every day.”

Source: https://morungexpress.com/building-classrooms-imparting-life-skills