With an aim to give students a holistic knowledge and develop them into good human beings, a school in Nadia has decided to start scouting activities in school.

Bishnupur High School in Nadia district has tied up with Bharat Scouts and Guides (BSG). The school started giving training to the children from last year. There are presently 24 students, who have enrolled for the voluntary service.

The school is the first in the district to start such activity, said people with the knowledge on the developments.

Talking about the school’s tie-up with BSG, Sushitava Bhattacharjee, headmaster Bishnupur High School, said, “We sent give of our teachers to train with Bharat Scouts and Guides at Kurseong in 2022. They are now training our students.”

The headmaster says he wants to inculcate human values in the students from a very young age. Mr Bhattacharjee believes in the motto, ‘once a scout, always a scout’, and wants should students serve mankind through selfless service.

The school, which completed 75 years, this year, held a series of meetings with the parents to convince them to send their children for the training. The numbers of new joinings are increasing fast, said the headmaster.

The headmaster thinks this training is also an opportunity for the teachers to upgrade their skill sets.

Rover scout leader Rupendra Mohan Sarkar, said, “The teachers from Bishnupur High School underwent a week-long residential training. These teachers in effect are now teaching their students, who are in Pravesh, a 3-month introductory programme.” Once the students successfully complete this period they are given a badge through an investiture ceremony.”

As a practice, the scouts qualify for the next stage and become a member of BSG.

In West Bengal, scouting was very prevalent in the ’70s as it was was under the education department, which put emphasis on such activities. Later, it was transferred to the youth service department, said the scout leader.

“Schools from Howrah, Hooghly, Kolkata, Burdwan districts have more participation in scouting programme, whereas schools from Birbhum, Bankura, Nadia, Murshidabad, Cooch Behar etc are lagging somewhat. But we are also pushing from more schools to join us,” said the Rover scout leader, adding that there are around 40,000 students under BSG in the state.

Milton Gharami, Sanskrit teacher at the Bishnupur school, who underwent training and is now training the students, said, “Scouting is a movement. Scouts are supposed to serve the society selflessly. The Bishnupur High School Scout Group has 24 members from classes V, VI, VII. We started with just seven students in 2023. There is something unique of scouts. They greet (handshake) each other with their left hand and salute with their right hand.”

The school plans to hold a camp with the scouts after the summers for the in the hills.