A 3-in-1 Festivity! ‘Monthi Festh’, ‘Teachers’ Day’ & ‘Onam’ celebrated by St Aloysius High School, Mangaluru & St Aloysius Higher Primary school, Mangaluru.
Mangaluru: Like, when you go shopping at a Mall, you will see bunch of signs, either at clothing shops, footwear store or supermarket, saying, ‘BUT 1 Get 1 Free’, or ‘Buy 1 Get 2 Free’- in a similar way, here we have ‘1 Day, Enjoy 3 Fests’ namely the Fests being ‘Monthi Festh’, ‘Teachers’ Day’, and ‘Onam’, organized by St Aloysius High School, Mangaluru; and St Aloysius Higher Primary School, Mangaluru. Unfortunately, even though all these three fests, which were used to be celebrated in a large and grand scale every year, but due to Covid-19 restrictions, they were held in a low key and in sombre.
Another teacher said just like education having gone online; the celebrations too were restricted to videos, audio and picture messages. “What we learn from them (children) is they are eager to return to classes,” said another government school teacher. Anyways, in order to keep the Teachers’ Day tradition still alive, ONLY the teachers joined in the sombre fun, in the absence of the children. Teachers’ Day is a special day for the appreciation of teachers, and may include celebrations to honor them for their special contributions in a particular field area, or the community in general. Many countries celebrate Teachers’ Day on different dates, unlike many other International Days. In India the birthday of the second president Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (5 September) is celebrated as Teacher’s Day since 1962. Many countries celebrate their Teachers’ Day on 5 October in conjunction with World Teachers’ Day, which was established by UNESCO in 1994.
Regarding Onam, it is celebrated to honour the kind-hearted and much-beloved demon King Mahabali, who is believed to return to Kerala during this festival, and is a main festival among Keralites, which was on 31 August. The festival begins on the day known as Atham, and ends on the tenth day, known as Thiru Onam or Thiruvonam, also the most auspicious day during the festival of Onam. During the ten-day festivities, devotees bathe, offer prayers, wear traditional clothes — women of the household wear a white and gold saree called the Kasavu saree – participate in dance performances, draw flower rangolis called pookkalam and cook traditional feasts called sadya. Sadya is served on banana leaves during Onam. As they say “better late than never”, teachers of St Aloysius High School celebrated Onam by making the traditional “Pookalam” flower arrangement Teachers, namely Mrs Chris D’souza, Mrs Renny Vas, Mrs Diana Goveas, Mrs Jovita D’souza, among others created the Pookalam.
It should be noted that Christians all over the world will be celebrating the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM) or simply the birthday of Mary, on 8 September every year. People living in the West coast of India, Christians celebrate this feast as’ Nove- Jevnche ‘ or in other words ‘ Festival of Harvest’ . The people use this occasion to salute the kindness of the divine powers and earn their kindness. This is also the festival in which they thankfully acknowledge the kindness of Mother Nature and mother earth for the bounteous crops. Monthi Festh represents the symbol of family unity, which is celebrated with joy and happiness as it is the harvest festival as well. It is the celebration of family bonds, filial relationships and a feast which makes us aware that we are very much part of nature around us bringing us closer to Mother Nature. And Catholic teachers and non-teaching staff of St Aloysius HS and Higher Primary school, joined in the Monthi Festh mass celebrated by Fr Vincent Pinto SJ- Finance Officer at St Aloysius College, along with Fr Gerald Furtado-the Headmaster of St Aloysius High School.
In his homily, Fr Vincent Pinto SJ said, “The feast of Nativity of Mary or traditionally called as the Monti Fest is the occasion of thanksgiving to the Almighty for the abundance of graces that he has showered on mankind. Family bonding is essential for better relations and it is the time to introspect on one’s life. This is a family gathered feast, and Mary is the role model for families”. Ms Edna Priya Mascarenhas of St Aloysius High School was in charge of liturgy service and choir. Following the mass, a Teachers’ Day celebration was held at the High School hall, which began with a prayer by Mrs Bharathi N K and group. High School Donald Saldanha welcomed the audience, following which the programme was inaugurated by lighting of the lamp, and showering flower petals on the portrait of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, by chief guest Dr Rose Veera D’souza- Dean of Arts dept, St Aloysius college, along with Fr Gerald Furtado, Leo d’souza- Assistant Headmaster St Aloysius primary school; and Gopal Krishna Bhat- Assistant Headmaster, St Aloysius High School.
In her inaugural speech chief guest, Dr Rose Veera D’souza gave the example of Dr Sarvapalli Radhakrishna and urged the teachers to make him as their role model. ( More of Dr D’souza’s speech at the end of this report). Fr Gerald Furtado SJ said, “Teachers are arguably the most important members of our society. They give children purpose, set them up for success as citizens of our world, and inspire in them a drive to do well and succeed in life. The children of today are the leaders of tomorrow, and teachers are that critical point that makes a child ready for their future. Children carry what they are taught at a young age throughout the rest of their lives. They will use what they have learned to influence society. Everyone knows that today’s youth will become tomorrow’s leaders, and teachers have access to educate the youth in their most impressionable years — whether that is in teaching preschool, teaching extracurriculars, sports or traditional classes. Those who have an impact on the children of society have the power to change lives. Not just for those children themselves, but for the lives of all”.
Few games and light entertainment of songs by teachers ended a 3-in-1 celebration, where the primary school teacher Harish thanked everyone, and Mrs Sheryl Prabhu nee Rodrigues compered the programme. Ending this report with the Chief Guest Dr Rose Veera D’souza’s Speech.
SPEECH OF DR ROSE VEERA D’SOUZA ON ROLE OF TEACHERS
You touched my life and I have grown as a fulfilled person. Thank you for helping me to carve my personality. Happy Teachers’ Day!” I am sure several such lovely sweet messages must have come to your inbox or your WhatsApp account. Though you miss your students being around and are consigned to virtual mode due to the pandemic I am sure September 5th the teachers can never forget. Nonetheless I am sure this has also brought an occasion to think as to how gratifying it was to be with the students, I am sure at the high school and primary level the students experience the warmth of a teacher and their guidance much more than in higher education.
Thank you for this opportunity in this new normal to be connected to you dear teachers on this beautiful day of celebrating teacher’s day. You are the significant force for us teachers at the higher education level. Your guidance matters to the students as you attend to them in their very crucial stages of life – the adolescence. 5th of September is a great day in the life of teachers in India. This is the day where we take a lot of pride and recognize the worth of teachers. On this day we celebrate the multi-faceted personality of Dr Sarvapalli Radhakrishna, the second President of our country who was a great teacher, a Professor of philosophy. His passion for education was overwhelming. That’s when his students wanted to celebrate his birthday, he under standing the importance of a teacher and due to his innate quality of being a generous teacher transformed this joy as a joy for all the teachers by making it as teacher’s day.
Being a teacher has never been easy and to sustain the teacher-hood is all the more difficult given the challenges that we face today. I am sure now we are at the toughest time where we are expected to learn, unlearn and relearn quite a lot. It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.- said Albert Einstein. We have heard of great teachers like Dr Abdul kalam whose vivid memories are very much engrained in this campus too as he visited St Aloysius institution in 2003 and we relive his writings and his vision enthrall the teaching fraternity throughout our country. We have great teachers existing in our amidst in the campus like Rev Dr Leo D’Souza SJ who continue to inspire to every teacher in the campus due to his relentless service and concern to everyone who comes in contact with him.
I feel, to be a good teacher one need to have 5 C’s- I am talking about the basic tenets of a teacher which could be assessed through Compassion, Courage, Conscientiousness while carrying out teaching work, Coordination and Cooperation while working with the fellow colleagues. What makes us a great teacher is our intentionality and the discipline that we insist in us and in our students to achieve better. What makes us perhaps a good teacher is being connected to students and to the society as Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan himself believed in updating knowledge and mastery over what we are supposed to and being a co- traveler with our students. Teachers are the people who carry out their work according to their inner will that is the real worth of the teacher to stand firm and support. The talents and potentialities that the high school and primary school teachers have displayed today are noteworthy especially the caricature and the Rangoli at the entrance speaks in volume the creativity of teachers. May We Shine and Enkindle !