USHERING EXCELLENCE THROUGH EDUCATION- MILES BRONSON RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL

A man planted a seed in the soil, poured water on it and waited for a day or two. The seed meanwhile sprouted into a tiny sapling, fresh but fragile. The man nurtured the sapling with love, care and patience. Soon, the sapling spread its tiny branches as the man tended to it everyday. Braving the extremes of weather, the sapling grew into a beautiful and strong tree. Welcome to Miles Bronson Residential School, a sapling planted 25 years back that has grown into a magnificent tree today. Two and half decades have gone by in a flash, and it still feels that Miles was born just a few days back. An unassuming gentleman with a sober demeanour, extraordinarily ambitious, and modern in outlook yet rooted in our traditions dreamed big 25 years ago and established Miles on 17th August 1987, with just a handful of students. Today establishing a school like Miles could be a dream for many, but for its Founder and Principal, Dr. Nripen Kumar Dutta, it is a reality, a beautiful tree that has borne fruits of success. Named after distinguished missionary, social reformer, scholar and linguist Dr. Miles Bronson who came from the USA to Assam, the school had a very humble beginning as it sought to cater to the demands of students written off as non performers but could achieve remarkable success at Miles. With surging demand of students and the need for more space, the school was shifted to Beltola in 1990 with 98 students. Initially it started functioning with two buildings, but extended to include nine buildings all under lease or rent. The student capacity increased remarkably in between 1990-2002 and it stood at 240 students. In 2002, the school shifted to its permanent complex at Borjhar. The student-intake capacity has swelled to its maximum present intake capacity of 604 students. The vision of the school is to empower teachers to prepare children for Global Citizenship with deep moral values and sound knowledge of our rich heritage. This exclusive co-educational Senior Secondary English medium boarding school is situated in a sprawling and serene campus covering over 36 acres of land near the Lokapriya Gopi Nath Bordoloi International Airport at the outskirt of Guwahati city, the school presently impart education to students in its purely residential campus. The aim of the school is to provide quality education to the students who come from the far flung places where education is not possible to meet the desired needs of the students. The school aims to imbibe rich moral values to the students, prepare them for global citizenship, develop the spirit of humanism, scientific temper, rationality in order to inculcate the spirit of able civic responsibility and citizenship. The school seeks to sensitize students about their important role in a fast changing global environment by consolidating on their life enriching residential experiences at Miles. MBRS is a high performing school which seeks to optimize excellence in every field of application while ensuring holistic development of the child.

The school sought affiliation from the CBSE, New Delhi initially till class X in the year 2000 and it was upgraded to include all the three streams in the Higher Secondary Level in the year 2003. What makes Miles singularly an institution with a difference is its equal and undivided attention towards each and every student, thus transforming average students into high performers. Delivering phenomenal performance in both the Class X (AISSE) and Class XII (AISSCE) board exams, Miles ensures that records tumble every year raising the bar of performance and expectations sky high. An educator par excellence Dr. N.K. Dutta attaches tremendous value to maximizing potential in academics. Two and half decades back when Miles took up the challenge of imparting education in a purely residential environment. It was a mammoth task with numerous obstacles on the way. But hard work coupled with dedication soon yielded results and statistics revealed a quantum leap in the performance of the students. Some of the students performed exceedingly well thus proving themselves to be assets for the school. Along with an array of superlative performances by its students in academics, Miles brims with co-curricular activities as well. Dr. N.K. Dutta has encouraged holistic development of students by nurturing and inspiring talents in various arenas. This includes National Science Olympiad, National Cyber Olympiad, National Maths Olympiad, quizzes, debating, dramatics, dance, etc. to name only a few. Exemplary performances by students have ranged from earning laurels in Volleyball and Football tournaments to excelling in an international art contest on the occasion of Save The Frogs Day, 2009, by savethefrogs.com. Two masterminds of quiz had also participated in a quiz, competition named Bharat Ko Jano and earned name and fame for the school. This apart, the school athletics team was adjudged as the 1 st Runner up at the CBSE Athletics cluster meet held from 25th to 27th November, 2011, organized by South Point School at the Sports Authority of the Indian Stadium, Guwahati. Also our Bronsonians have been the proud recipients of Best Disciplined School Award in South Asias Largest Inter-School Fiesta organized by Horlicks Wiz Kids at Pragjyoti II-A complex, Guwahati. The School Basketball Team brought the Cluster 2nd Runners Trophy at the CBSE Cluster I Basketball Meet. CBSE Cluster I Sports meet. 1 st Runner-up at the CBSE Cluster-I Volleyball Tournament 2012-13. The Bronsonians also excelled in various other creative pursuits like photo editing events and PowerPoint Presentations. Their sharp, incisive, analytical, witty and corporate style PowerPoint Presentation left the audience spell bound. We feel proud to state that in the 5th International Mathematics Olympiad Laky Saha secured North East Region Rank 2nd, International Rank 251 & North East Region Rank 4th, International Rank 508 (14th National Science Olympiad, Maths) and Bikram Singh Maibam secured North East Rank 5th, International Rank 251 (14th National Science Olympiad), Khanjan Jyoti Choudhury secured North East Rank 3rd, International Rank 343 (11th National Cyber Olympiad), Nayan Jyoti Kalita secured North East Rank 5th, International Rank 488 (11th National Cyber Olympiad) and Farhana Yashmin Rahman secured State Rank- 2nd, International Rank -238 (2nd International English Olympiad).

The School provides in house coaching for various competitive examinations like the IIT, Engineering, Medical, etc. The CABE (Competitive and Board Examination) Department comprises highly qualified and motivated professionals who not only instill a competitive spirit among students but help them broaden their outlook and sharpen their skills for such exams. During the past few years, the number of Bronsonians cracking the All India Engineering Entrance Examination, the Assam combined Entrance Examinations and the Medical Entrances, has risen steadily giving miles a place of pride among those handful of fortunate institutions whose students have also cracked these exams. In terms of infrastructure the school has grown from strength to strength in a phased manner. The school comprises five hostels (three for girls and two for boys) named after the tributaries of the only male river in the world, the Brahmaputra. The lush green lawns and trees lining up the roads that run within the school campus reveal an aesthetic sense of the designer who has planned it to the environment friendly. The strategically placed hostels and other buildings including the Administrative Block, Staff quarters, Principals residence, accommodation for all resemble a well knit family unit with a perfect interrelationship among all members. To develop the physical abilities of the students sports and games are an important part of school life here at MBRS. It has a full fledged sports complex that includes lawn tennis, swimming besides having facilities for regular sports activities like football, volleyball, basketball and cricket. The school has ample facilities for various indoor games. With an array of innovations MBRS has managed to leap frog into the next millennium with confidence to deal with the sweeping global changes in the educational scene. In fact, it has been the forerunner in adopting innovations and applying the same in the teaching, learning and evaluation process. Smartly designed classrooms, with careful detailing, the latest classrooms furniture, white boards and colourful markers make learning a pleasurable experience. In fact, these elements enhance the curriculum transaction in the classroom. Interactive White Boards (IWB) and Digital Learning is the buzzword here. With IWB classrooms in each block and each floor, learning has become more pupil friendly, internalization of the knowledge process more meaningful. It has helped the whole system move towards student centric learning. Interactive and customized software solutions makes the whole process of learning very easy and enjoyable. This system enables electronically stored data in the knowledge centre server to be transferred to the classrooms boards. InfoTech Centre: The School is aware of the importance of the info tech revolution, the latest craze all over the world. Pupils are kept abreast of the latest technological developments and are empowered with tools to face these challenges. An air conditioned computer laboratory with multi media enabled P.Cs has been installed. The emphasis here is on practical learning. Technology led learning makes Miles have a distinct edge in the whole process of curriculum transaction as the school is in sync with the knowledge revolution through continuous updating including the latest in the frontiers of knowledge, path breaking

advances and latest trends. Wi-Fi enabled campus facilitates mentors and learners to challenge learning possibilities beyond the textbook. Teaching, learning and evaluation processes are result oriented and highly fulfilling. In addition CCTVs installed at strategic locations ensures effective surveillance as well as the physical and psychological safety of the students under pastoral care. In todays world where acquiring English Language skills is a must for every student, Miles seeks to provide special training to its students through a blended learning methodology of Instructor Led Training (ILT) and Computer Based Training (CBT) to empower the English Communication skills of its students. Also an interactive and interesting application of mathematical concepts and principles with visual illustrations in the maths lab encourage innovation as well as develop students aptitude for maths, making the subject more interesting and developing logical thinking in the process. Miles has also setup a Robotics Lab where instruction is imparted by following three differential concepts of Science and Technology, Engineering and Mathematics to help students find practical applications of the theoretical concepts they learn in class. Hands-on experience in construction of Robotic models inspires and encourages students to fuel their imagination and give a boost to their creative potential. The schools geography lab is an asset as it seeks to explore concepts beyond the book and design life like models on various environmental subjects, thus making the blue planet and interesting subject of study. Students are always amazed by facts about the solar system, the universe, volcanoes and earthquakes. Charts and models on these topics make geography a fascinating subject for the pupils. Learning Science here is transformed into a life enriching experience as science is regarded as the angel of creative ideas. To sharpen this mindset state-of-art Physics, Chemistry and Biology Labs enables students to strengthen the power of self discovery and develop the spirit of enquiry. What serves to be icing on the cake are the incessant efforts and endevours of our principal Dr. N.K. Dutta to reach the pinnacle of success. DR. Dutta sets for himself new heights to be scaled everyday. A man with a never-say-die attitude and strong morale, Dr. Dutta is a brilliant example of a winner who doesnt do different things but does things differently. We proudly enlist below the awards won by our dear Principal in his outstanding career: Awards and Honours to the Principal: (a) Awarded Ed. Leadership Award 2010 by the Ed. Leadership International Roundtable Conference, Lucknow, 4th August, 2010 (b) Conferred the 2nd North East Excellence Award in the Large Entrepreneur Category by the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) for contribution in the field of education in Jan 2011. (c) Awarded Best Principal Trophy in 4th International Mathematics Olympiad (IMO) by Science Olympiad Foundation (SOF) for the continued support rendered towards popularization of Mathematics in North East. (d) Recipient of the SOE Global Education Awards, 2012 in the category Mentor Who Changed Lives on 16th of December, 2012 at the India International Center, New Delhi

Awards and Honours to Staff: Also Nabajyoti Lahkar, PGT (IP) has been the proud recipient of the Best Teacher in the IT category by Science Olympiad Foundation (SOF) thus signifying the level of superlative performance. Miles is rooted in the belief that evolution is a continuous process and lifelong learning holds the key in redefining the whole definition of Excellence .It is geared up as a twenty first century school with the best in systems incorporation including a paradigm shift from instructor led to student led learning, supportive learning communities, key classroom management and pastoral practices, adhering to multiple learning styles and inculcation of values thereby preparing students for Global Citizenship. Excellence is always an on going journey here. With a handful of students to its meteoric rise Miles today is an inspiring organization staking its claim to be superlative in redefining excellence as a way of life. In its twenty five years of glorious existence it has delivered an all round performance in the domain of quality education. With sky high societal and parental expectations the school is poised to scale new heights of excellence in the days to come.