‘Sluggishness’ in CNI schools worries bishop

KOLKATA : The “sluggishness” in the CNI schools must change, Rt Rev Probal Kanto Dutta said in conversation with Derek O’ Brien on Saturday. The Trinamool MP was wearing a scribe’s hat on Saturday evening, demanding straight answers from the bishop.
In the chit-chat hosted by the Association of La Martiniere Alumni (ALMA) to mark the institution’s 182 years, he asked the chairman of the CNI schools, “How difficult will it be implementing your resolutions?” The bishop replied: “The sluggishness has to change, it’s a difficult task, but I am very patient.To bring about the change, which was needed for the last 10 years, you will have to be 20 years ahead.”

The bishop of Durgapur diocese of the Church of North India (CNI) was made the bishop of the Calcutta Diocese last month. He was holding additional charge of the Calcutta diocese since August, when the synod, CNI’s highest decision-making body, refused to extend the tenure of Rev Ashoke Biswas. After that, LMB ex-student and an MLA representing the Anglo-Indian community, Michael Shane Calvert, replaced Supriyo Dhar as secretary of the La Martiniere Schools.
The Trinamool MP said: “I don’t know of any bishop who will take open questions like this … So, what would the bishop’s biggest hurdle be.” To this, the bishop gave an example of red tape, saying that while asking for a glass of water to quench his thirst, he sometimes has to wait endlessly as the message gets transmitted from one level to another: “If they get over the sluggishness they will do a very good job. You must go on hitting … change, change and change … to get it into the blood of the people.”
He said, “We have taken up projects that have been lying idle for a long time”, admitting that classrooms in the La Martieniere Schools are cramped with 58-plus students.
“Do you think the heritage schools are resting on the laurels and the younger ones are sharper and catching up?” asked O’Brien. The bishop said modernization plans were afoot, but “in the new schools, the classrooms are very big, our classrooms are more than 100 years old”.
From possible PPPs with government in setting up new schools to Durgapur getting a new bishop, the adda rolled on. O’Brien then initiated a Q&A with the audience. “Can see radical changes happening already,” said ALMA member Tejvinder Singh Chattha.