city of Shillong.Both the School and the Church,have now been shifted to its present location,and MCHS lies adjacent to the existing Synod Complex.People of Shillong before and during the writer’s time,will agree that MCHS is a famous school of Shillong besides being one of the leading ones of the city.As stated earlier,eminent people in various capacities,have joined and passed from this school,yet the school remains,in the same condition.

The School believes in life-oriented and value-based teaching,and nurtures a culture of solidarity.

In this write up,with immense pleasure,the writer takes this opportunity to reflect a little on the historical background of this school.All the data in this write up has been obtained from the school authorities,in a very short time.It is expected that this write up will serve as an eye opener,to the researchers of the region,who are keen to study the contribution made by this school.

Profile of Mawkhar Christian High School

The erstwhile Mawkhar Christian High School,presently known as Mawkhar Christian Higher Secondary School;is an educational institution belonging to and managed by the Managing Committee constituted by the KJP Synod Sepngi and is headed by its President and other Committee members.It is presently affiliated to the Meghalaya Board of School Education.The School was founded with the avowed mission of “bringing college education within reach of the common man”.It has striven since its inception to turn the youth of Northeast India into leaders of the society,politicians,bureaucrats,scientists,doctors,judges,lawyers,engineers,and so on.Today,in the little over sixty two (62) years,the School has provided education or thousands of young men.

Though the exact date of foundation of the school is not known,the available records indicate that the lower primary school was elevated to the Middle English level sometime between 1870 and 1874.The then Middle English School,which was later known as the Welsh Mission Middle English School,was upgraded to the High School level in 1947.Since then,the school was re-christened and known as ‘Mawkhar Christian High School’.The school was recognized by the Gauhati University in 1950 and the list of students belonging to the first batch that appeared for the Matriculation Examination under the Gauhati University in 1951 includes:LALZIDINGA SAILO,C LAL KHUMA,THANHAWLA CHONGTHU,R VANHLIRA,KHANOT K. HUGH and WHETSTONE JAMES.

The Government of Meghalaya included the School in its grant-in-aid deficit scheme in the year 1974.It was only in 2011 that the School was upgraded to the higher secondary level after

which the school is now known as “Mawkhar Christian Higher Secondary School”.

The School believes in life-oriented and value-based teaching,and nurtures a culture of solidarity.It has the vision of moulding intellectually competent,morally upright,socially committed and spiritually inspired persons capable of building a more human social order within the context of the nation’s plurality of religions and diversity of cultures.The Alumni of Mawkhar Christian High School who have excelled in so many spheres of the society and abroad and who are in many ways too innumerable to list here bear a grand testimony to this endeavour.

Fortunately and accidentally,on April 18th 2012,while I was busy marketing at the famous market place of Shillong,which,in the predominant Khasi language spoken in Shillong is known as ‘Ka Iewduh’ or commonly ‘Barrabazar’,I met a school batchmate of mine,who told me of a proposed meet of all the ex-students of the school.Curious about the agenda of this meet and filled with excitement,I decided to be part of the first ever Alumni meet of MCHS which was held on the 21st of April 2012.I had thought at that time that a meeting of the alumni of an school which has produced so many illustrious and eminent personalities of the State and of Shillong city in particular is a moment to remember and a treasure of a lifetime. As I went to the meeting,I was extremely happy to see the following words in the banner:“How does a tree gain it’s strength if not from it’s roots & soil”.Seeing these words reminded me of one of own write-ups which reflected on the contributions made by one of our forefathers which published in one of the vernacular Khasi daily newspapers in 2012 (Shynrang (MCHS) -Sa Shisien Pat Sa Shisien Pat…”-Nongsain Hima 11th.May 2012,page 4),wherein I had written-“We ate the fruits or shelter under the leaves,that come out from the buds in the branches of the tree that has its roots deep down the soil”.

In conclusion,I,and I believe most if not all of the alumnus of MCHS wish to thank the school,its faculty and management for making us who we are today.Decades have passed since we sat in the classrooms and walked the halls of the school without never realizing what we realize today–those were the days during which our lives were being shaped and our futures being written.

Dr.Monkhmer Lyngdoh Kynshi