Five years later, in 1856 he opened a school at Silchar with an enrolment of 150 students. It has been the aim of the mission and missionaries to build up good relationship with the local people for whom they are working. The Welsh missionaries purchased a land at Silchar in the year 1892 and began to construct some buildings from the following year and these buildings have become the home of missionaries and mission workers of the area till today.
Formerly Silchar and Karimganj Districts formed part of the Sylhet Cachar Synod, often referred to as Plain Synod. After partition, Sylhet Cachar Synod was divided into two parts – one part came under East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and the other part came under the Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in North East India whose Headquarters is in Shillong. The Assembly of PCNEI Biennial Meeting in 1972 at Churachandpur decided to transfer the church administration of Cachar area to one of the Synods and the Cachar District Meeting was asked to decide as to which Synod– (Khasi & Jaintia Synod or Manipur Synod or Cachar Hill Tribe Synod or Mizoram Synod) would look after them. The Cachar District Annual Meeting in 1973 decided that Mizoram Synod should look after them. Accordingly the administration of Cachar District Church Administration was handed over to the Mizoram Synod on 25th April, 1974.
Since the inception of Welsh missionaries in Cachar area, Education has been the programme for developing the mass uneducated people. All these years we have been receiving the co-operation of the people of Barak Area. Apart from school education our Mission has also been running one Craft Training Centre in which we trained 10 students every year. The Craft Centre was started at Karimganj and after some years of running it was transferred to Konakpur. This year it was transferred to Pailapool. In the Craft training our trainees have been mostly from Hindu community and even in this year also out of 10 trainees only one is from Christian community. Our aim is to train women in Tailoring to enable them to earn their livelihood. We are also running dispensaries in five different places – Kamranga, Dholaicherra, Bontarapur, Lala and Winchester School, Tlangpui. Our mission work has never been confined to the Christian population only.
Coming to the Oriental High School, I would like to thank our well-wishers, parents for their co-operations and valuable contributions because of which our school has attained the status of being one of the best High Schools in Cachar District. In 2004 we produced students who stood 9th and 18th positions in the whole of Assam and the Govt. of Assam had given us Rs 50,000/- in recognition to our performance in HSLC Examination. This year all our candidates (34) have passed. I am proud of our Headmaster and our teachers for their hard work and efficiency and they are trying their level best not only to maintain the standard but also to elevate its position to a much higher level. I would like to appeal to the parents, guardians and Political leaders and all the NGOs to cooperate with us.
In times of flood we gave shelter to the flood victims in our school and in 2004 we had to close our school for three weeks. We are called by our loving God to lend our services to the people of Barak Area and as we are committed to this work we shall continue to serve the people with all the resources we can make available.
Oriental High School belongs to Mizoram Synod Mission Board which is an autonomous Body registered under Society Registration Act XXI of 1860. The Synod Mission Board runs many other schools in diferent parts of North East India- Tripura, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, and Karbi Anglong. The Constitution of India makes provision for this in Articles 26 which reads, “Subject to public order, morality and health, every religious denomination or any section thereof shall have the right –
(a) to establish and maintain institutions for religious and charitable purposes
(b) to manage its own affairs in matters of religion;
(c) to own and acquire moveable and immovable property; and
(d) to administer such property in accordance with law.”
As there has been a very clear constitutional provision we have never faced problem in all our schools. Being a Christian School we have Morning Devotion every day as done in all other Mission Schools all over India. Our students and our esteemed teachers who are from Hindu community have not complained so far. As we are human beings, created by God Almighty, it is fitting that we commit ourselves and our works to God in the morning. Students/guardians have liberty to seek admission in any school. Once they are admitted in a particular school, they are bound to follow the rules made by the school from time to time. Our guardians/parents know full well the practice of Oriental High School and they have agreed to follow the syllabus, administration and guidelines of the school.
Above all, our constitution provides Right to Freedom of Religion. Article 25 reads, subject to public order, morality and health and to the other provisions of this Part, all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practice and propagate religion. The bonafide citizen of India is bound to accept our constitutional provision.
Revival in the Mission Compound
The Holy Spirit of God visited Mission Compound, Jail Road, Silchar on 23rd April, 2006 and God manifested His presence in overwhelming reality as a result of which many of the compound dwellers were instantly filled with the Holy Spirit, and a new power was immediately apparent. The compound dwellers including children began to experience the Holy Spirit powerfully convicting them of their sins as they sang in praise of God. They were filled with the joy of the Lord and felt themselves almost bursting with joy and gratefulness. Some were moved to weeping before God to the extent of sinking to the ground in physical helplessness. At times they were too unrestrained and over expressive of their sorrow over sin or their joy at God’s mercy and transforming power.
People confessed their sins before God and received forgiveness. Tongues fail to explain in human language how the Holy Spirit moved the inner being of a person who received the Holy Spirit. God gripped the people with such Holy Spirit’s conviction that they could not control their body at the same time they are perfectly conscious. They felt a sensation of holy burning within them. They could not stop praying, thanking God for His wonderful love and His forgiveness, praying for His Mercy for others. Hatred and jealousy did not find a place. One of the commandments of Jesus, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself” is automatically obeyed. So there is nothing wrong and nothing to be afraid of for others in this Revival. It was beyond ‘emotion’. It is Divine intervention and the work of the Holy Spirit differs from person to person. Some have ‘trance’ and they are unable to control their body movements. Once their ‘trance’ appears they always need to express themselves in singing or praying and sometimes they receive a message to be delivered to the congregation or to a particular person. Unless this is done their trance will last long. As such the affected persons need not to be brought to the Doctor for medical treatment.
During church services everybody who came to the church could feel the overwhelming sense of God’s presence. The Bible also tells us about the day of Pentecost. “They were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to talk in other languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak….Others made fun of the believers, saying, ‘these people are drunk’” (Acts 2:4& 13). It is not unusual that ‘others’ did not understand as even the church leaders themselves could hardly explain.
Revival had taken place in different parts of the world – Europe, South Africa, North America, Korea and China during 18th – 20th centuries. In all these places the phenomena were almost same, hunger for God, conviction of sin, deep confession, repentance, restitution and audible prayer by the entire group. In the northeast India, Revival took place for the first time in 1906 in Meghalaya and Mizoram. In Mizoram another Revival had taken place in 1913, 1919, 1930-35, 1950s, 1984, 1989. This year 2006 we celebrated Revival Centenary and we are expecting another Revival to take place as the churches have been earnestly praying for the same. In fact it did happen in some churches of Mizoram. The Christian community everywhere long for the Revival as they know full well that the more widespread any revival movement becomes, the more transforming are the moral effects in the areas where God’s holy fire has burned.
The in-dwelling Holy Spirit is always awakened when the Holy Spirit –anointed person looks to God in prayer or sings in praise of God. On 16th May, 2006 when our children were about to continue their exam they had silent prayer in their seat thanking God for the new day and asking for help and blessing, the in-dwelling Holy Spirit moved and they lost control of their body although they did not lose consciousness. The clever invigilators brought them to the church where they prayed spontaneous prayer for quiet sometime. The sound of Halleluiahs and their voice of prayer attracted others including students who had finished their paper (exam) and some of the students were caught by this revival fire. People were then panic and the affected students were brought home by their parents/guardians.
The news spread like anything and the next day many people came to the school premises expecting the same thing to happen. As the students entered Mission Compound the same thing happened. In the situation parents and many outsiders began to interfere as a result of which school window panes were broken and Devotion Hall main door was partly damaged.
Our Headmaster was insulted in a very cheap manner. Pastor and our teachers explained to the parents and outsiders what had happened but they did not prepare to understand the incident.
According to the esteemed daily newspaper ‘Frontier Sun’ many NGOs including Mass Science Association denounced the whole thing as a deep seated conspiracy (May 17 issue). Let the people of Barak Area know that there is no such conspiracy. Spiritual Revival is Divine, not man-made and cannot be predicted or pre-planned. It has been our aim to build up a cordial relationship with the people of Barak Area rather. It is very unfortunate that the Parents’ Meeting convened by Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), Bajrang Dal and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on 18th May, 2006 tried to connect the present Revival Wave with ‘attempt to conversion’ and decided to organize ‘Strike’ on 1st. June (Thursday) to prevent students from attending school which they did. But parents came forward to our side and stood for the school and the atmosphere returned to normalcy after three hours or so. We have 13 teachers from Hindu community who know full well that there have been no forced conversion and such negative aspects in our school. Our beloved teachers have never complained against our Christian atmosphere, school administration and our daily routine so far. Above all we have not violated the constitution of India as far as school administration is concerned.
The present revival is not mass hysteria nor a kind of hysterical disorder as certain physicians may claim. Revival fire catches all kinds of people, adult and children, physically or mentally weak and healthy people alike as there is no discrimination in Christianity in general and in the works of the Holy Spirit in particular. As desired by the Deputy Commissioner, Cachar District seven students who had trance in connection with the present Revival were sent to Medical College Hospital for medical check up on 17th May, 2006. They were all found normal. In spite of this one student Miss Jessica Lalhruaizeli Class IX was admitted into the Hospital and was given certain medical treatment which did not work. On the second day, on 19th May afternoon her in-dwelling Holy Spirit moved her again for the second time in the hospital and she was shivering, unable to control her movement without losing consciousness. A team of Doctors came and they gave her Loripam 2ml injection which they believed would control her automatically. Had it not been the work of the Holy Spirit we would have objected to giving such high dose of drug. But we knew that it was the work of the Holy Spirit and nothing harm would take place. It so happened that such strong and very high dose of drug did not work! The doctors were simply watching and were helpless. As her trance was the work of the Holy Spirit, medicine did not apply and it continued for more than two hours. The next morning she woke up with freshness and in good health and she was discharged. Jessica Lalhruaizeli has been in good health till now.
Respecting the request of the Deputy Commissioner, Cachar District, the revived students were isolated during examinations and no untoward incident took place.
On 22nd May, 2006 (Tuesday) School re-opened for regular classes. During morning Devotion one class X student Sharmila screamed as her ‘trance’ appeared. This aroused others who are having the same trance. As the teachers were trying to control the atmosphere by taking the revived students out some students ran here and there and guardians rushed to the school premises. In order to avoid chaos some parents suggested that classes should be suspended and we obey parents and suspended classes and students began to go home. The confined students were escorted by their teachers and they were detained near the gate until their parents/guardians came. Within a short time people who are not known to us rushed to the school and started destroying School signboard and tried to force open the other door of the headmaster while the teachers were having a meeting inside. We went out and faced angry mops and our teachers explained what had happened but they could hardly listen to them. As demanded by her relatives Sharmila was brought to the doctor for medical check up by our vehicle. The staff meeting resolved that from the next day onwards devotion should be held in their respective class rooms and that the Revival affected students including Sharmila would stay in their home for sometime and tuition would be arranged as may be necessary. We were sure with this arrangement we would be able to run the school smoothly.
As we were informed that parents would not send their children to school as strike would be organized the next day the 2nd June, 2006 by some people, the school authority decided to close the school on this day. In the morning some youths were seen nearby our gate and they even entered our compound and went round. We did not know what they were looking for. As they went out they met our Pastor Biaksailova at the gate and they hit him with hands from behind two times and he almost fell. We never expect this kind of intentional physical indignity to take place. We found it difficult to understand why our Pastor should suffer from miscreants’ itching hand and we informed our Liaison Officer who in turn reported to the authority. If we commit anything wrong or if we are false, we are ready to suffer for it and not to react. We are to follow the example which our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ had set; he humbled himself and walked the path of obedience all the way to death- his death on the cross.
Revival always came in Mizoram and even in schools and there are many cases of this kind. In some cases the Revival affected students could not attend school for one or two days and the whole classes have never been suspended. In the case of Oriental High School also, if the Revival- affected students are isolated for sometime the atmosphere will be restored to normalcy very soon. In the history of Christian church Revival has never been condemned as wherever Revival took place sinners confessed their sins and repent and led a new life. Let us hope that the present crisis will bring about something good for our school for which we are praying.
Lastly I thank the parents, guardians and all our well-wishers for your co-operation and contributions that have made Oriental High School one of the best in Cachar District. As human beings no one is perfect; let us understand our shortcomings and limitations and confront in unity the evil forces that can deteriorate the peaceful atmosphere of our society.