KVSU’s ‘Night School’ illuminates minds, guides students

February 29, 2024 16 Views No Comment

Morung Express news
Kohima | February 28

Beyond what students can acquire from institutionalised educational settings, the ‘Night School’ initiated by the Kohima Village Students Union (KVSU) has been conceptualised to provide year-round free tuition to school students and engage them with extra co-curricular learning opportunities.

However, this is not a recent initiative; it has its roots in the 90s and has been consistently maintained by KVSU members thereafter, benefiting hundreds annually to this day.

In a tete-a-tete with The Morung Express, Seluokuolie Albert Rutsa, the present General Secretary of KVSU, says the night school began with the motive to provide “quality tutoring to all students and assist them in their academic endeavours.”

The initiative is designed and targeted for students up to the higher secondary school level.

As the name suggests, Night school, apparently operating in the evening, is open for five days a week for a minimum of two hours on each working day.

The tuition timing is extended during examinations so that extra care and attention can be given to their lessons.

Further supplementing how it actually functions, Rütsa explains how it is inherently suited to a village model. There are currently four Night Schools, which are geographically placed in the vicinities of each khel. “Three are run in government school buildings, and one in a public library,” he adds.

In the four schools spread across the village, as it sounds convenient, the General Secretary also informs that every year, each school has an enrollment of 80 students on average and runs concurrently.

And following the school calendar, the night school begins when the school reopens until the year ends.

But it is no small feat to keep it going without volunteering and teamwork and to keep the holistic approach to give special attention to every individual student and guide them based on their abilities and performance for their all-round development.
As such, Rütsa says there are about “10 teachers in each school and about 30 Unit Executives who volunteer to help out in each Night School.”

“We have full-time subject teachers for all classes and also specialized teachers for Tenyidie and Hindi. We also get volunteers from outside who come in to teach for a certain period,” he further adds.

The General Secretary says that considering the strive for imparting education to all students without hampering the quality of tutoring they give, a student-teacher ratio below 10:1 is aimed to maintain. “There is no limit of intake; if there are more students, we either depute more teachers or split the class into sections,” he also underscores.

Even as the space of the night school can provide the students to freely express themselves, learn the best practices in each subject, and also learn from their peers, it does not limit its initiative to the four walls of the classroom.

In this tune, Rütsa says various activities are held throughout the year to enable students to explore their talents and also learn from new experiences.

Programmes such as Literary events, Teacher’s Day, Children’s Day, movie nights, exposure trips, and Personality Development activities are organised for the students.

Meritorious awards are also given to achieving students and teachers, he added.

“We have students from all backgrounds, from private schools and government schools. What we have seen is that all who come to the Night Schools benefit in some way or the other, some academically, some socially.”

The voluntary nonprofit initiative, meanwhile, is not isolated from challenges.

“All these programmes have financial implications, and most times we scale them down as we function on a very tight budget, which we get from various benefactors and well-wishers,” he informs.

Looking at the benefit that it is providing to the section of society, Rütsa then iterates that “the Night Schools are purely nonprofit institutions, and we are always open to collaborations from various organisations to fund and run our schools.”

“The union has seen positive impacts that the schools have created and is optimistic that it will continue to pave the way for our students’ community,” he adds.