A devastating inferno completely reduced the heritage building of the KJP Girls Secondary School to ashes in the wee hours of Sunday morning.
The massive fire devoured the old building, though newer structures were relatively unscathed, including the hostel. There were no casualties reported.
Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma visited the site today and assessed the damage for himself. He announced that Rs 1 crore from the CM’s Special Development Fund will be utilised as immediate relief for the school.
“We as a government and as a society, we are with them, and we will ensure that we all work together to rebuild this school together. I have promised them that immediately from my Chief Minister’s Special Development Fund, I am releasing Rs 1 crore to the school and, after that, once the full detailed estimates of the building come up, we will work out and we will work together to arrange the necessary funds to ensure that this comes back to what it was,” Sangma told reporters.
Terming it a very sad and tragic incident, the CM said the heritage institution was a very old school with old infrastructure and it is a great loss for the students, past pupils whose lives were transformed by the institution and the community as a whole.
“I have come here along with other leaders and met the principal and other managing committee members and the teachers. We cannot give back the same touch to it since it is a very old and a heritage building but I’m sure the managing committee will appropriately decide how to move forward,” he said.
Babu Kular Khongjirem, a teacher at the school, said that the managing committee will hold an emergency meeting on Monday to decide on the necessary course of action and students, teachers and other staff will be informed accordingly.
He also informed that the fire consumed everything, including important documents and nothing was recovered. However, it is not known how the fire started as police are still investigating, he added.
The school, formerly known as the Welsh Mission Girls School, was founded in 1892. It began as the only school for girls in the North East and has produced many eminent personalities over the years.
Some of them are Silverine Swer, EN Shullai, Mavis Dunn Lyngdoh, Bonily Khongmen, Rose Milian Bathew Kharbuli, who shone in civil administration, politics and other fields.
