Introduction:
Initially called the SIKULSEN, the Govt. Boys’ Primary School was established by Rev. D.E. Jones, who was known to the Mizos as Pu Zosaphluia. He started the school in order to celebrate his 28th birthday on 15th Feb, 1898. The school was mainly taken care of by himself along with Mr. Rai Bahadur and his wife. On 31st Dec, 1898, Rev. Edwin Rowlands (Pu Zosapthara) arrived in Mizoram as a missionary, and along with his duties for preaching the Gospel, he spent most of his time taking care of the school as well. The school opened from 8:30 am in the morning, till 4:30 pm in the evening. The school lessons in the initial days mainly consisted of learning how to read and write, along with lessons on the Bible and verse recitations. It has been said that Pu Zosapthara had excellent handwriting, which led to many of the students imitating his style of writing. In 1900, since Pu Zosaphluia (Rev. D.E. Jones) had a new task of doing ministry in the South for three months, the school was handed over to Pu Zosapthara as his replacement. He looked after the school until his Aizawl departure on 25th Aug, 1908.
The first Sikulsen Head Teacher (15.2.1898 - 31.12.1989) was Pu Zosaphluia, and the second Head Teacher (1.1.1900 - 25.8.1908) was Pu Zosapthara. The third one was Pu Chawnga (1909 -1923).
When Sikulsen (Govt. Boys’ Primary School) was opened on 15th Feb, 1898, lessons were mainly conducted at the porch of Pu Zosaphluia’s home. The location of his Bungalow home is now the office of the Synod Senior Executive Secretary. A proper school was then constructed near the Synod Press, a place not too far from Pu Zosaphluia Building. The school is well established, clad with chesnut wood floors that are 4 inches in width. Before Mission Veng had their own church, this school was also used as a temporary place of worship. The funding for the school construction was provided by Col. Loch Sap, the highest army authority in Mizoram at the time.
In 1904, the Assam Chief Commissioner, Sir Bomfyle Fuller visited Mizoram, and was elated when he saw just how good the mission school was taken care of by Pu Zosapthara. During this time, there were plenty of government schools in Lunglei, Tlabung and Aizawl, and as per the recommendation of the Deputy Commissioner, all these schools were newly to be under the supervision of the Mission School. Therefore, on 1st Apr, 1904, all the government schools were disbanded, and absorbed under the Welsh Mission.
Pu Zosapthara was then appointed the Honorary Inspector of Schools by the government, and had full authority over all the schools in Mizoram. The Assam Chief Commissioner, Sir Bomfyle Fuller provided additional funding for more schools, and this fund was used to create two new schools in Aizawl and Serkawn, Lunglei, with equal dimensions in area and all the same tools fairly used. The school in Aizawl was then named Sikulsen (Govt. Boys’ Primary School), and the school first opened its doors in 1905/1906.
SIKULPUI - GOVT. BOYS’ MIDDLE SCHOOL was opened in June, 1907. In talking about the opening, Pu Zosapthara quoted in the newspaper Mizo leh Vai July, 1907 with rudimentary Mizo, as such:-
SIKUL THU - MIDDLE ENGLISH : June thla an chuan Aizawl skul-puia Middle English Pawl an lo shiam ta a. Mizo paruk, Saitawna te, Ngaithangvunga te, Khianga te, Saptea te, Kawlhuma te, Lianhmingthanga te nen an tel. Middle English ruat hi kum 2 chhunga zir tur a ni. Middle English chhuak-a hnu-zawng-in khawi- Skulpui-a sap tawng hmang zawk-in an zir peih turin an bei-shei. Lower Primary kum 4, Upper Primary kum 2, Middle English pawh kum 2 an ruat. - Zosapthara
RECLAMATION BY THE SYNOD : From 1.9.1952 to 29.5.2019 (67 years), Sikulsen and Sikulpui were under the supervisorship of the state, and a desire for the schools to return to the Mizoram Presbyterian Kohhran arose amongst the public. As such, in the 2010 Synod Inkhawmpui, an agenda reads “Sikulpui (Boys’ Primary School and Boys’ Middle School) must be reclaimed by the Synod” (Gen 33). This decision was then put into practice, and steps were taken for the Synod to reclaim Sikulpui.
In 2018, the ruling party in Mizoram changed from Congress to MNF, and claims for the school continue amidst these changes. As per the declaration of the Cabinet Meeting of 29th May, 2019, an agreement to hand over Sikulsen and Sikulpui to the Synod was signed by three people, namely: Pu Lalchhandama Ralte, Minister i/c School Education Chamber, Pi Esther Lalruatkimi, Commisioner & Secretary, School Education and also a representative of the government of Mizoran, and Rev. K. Lalrinmawia, a representative of Synod. The Chief Minister also signed his acknowledgement as well. This agreement contains five brief and important points of instruction. (Memo D.11014/5/2017-EDN) Amongst these five points, perhaps the most important information entails that for the 2019-2020 Session, the school will still be under the state, and from the 2020 - 2021 Session, the school will be officially under the care of the Mizoram Synod.
As per the Synod 2019 General 33 decision, the SEC appointed an Officers Meeting (OM) to take responsibility for the Sikulpui. The OM drafted guidelines for the same, and suggested to the Synod Education Board to further draft additional guidelines for the school. The school is then handed over to the Synod Education Board, who made the final official guidelines. On 22nd May, 2020, the government of Mizoram (School Education Department) officially handed the Sikulpui building, the keys and other related dead stock over to the Synod. In this ceremony, the Mizoram Synod moderator of the time, Rev. R. Lalchangliana, received the keys and dead stock list on behalf of the Synod.
The Synod quickly took the necessary actions to restore the school, but the effects of Covid-19 further dampened its progress. Admissions were opened with the approval of the SEC, but the total lockdown soon followed 6 days later. Only a few students were initially admitted.
The Synod Service Board invited Upa Zonunmawia from Mission Veng to serve as the school’s Headmaster for two academic sessions, while 2 IV Grades and 1 Office Assistant were also newly employed. A total of 12 new teachers were new taken as well, coming to a total of 16 employees. The SEB formed the Sikulpui Sub Committee, where the Executive Secreatary i/c Education, etc. was the Chairman, while the Headmaster served as the Secretary. 4 members of the SEC were also appointed as Committee Members. Under the decision of this newly formed sub-committee, Sikulpui was officially opened on 16/10/2020 by the SEB (BEC). The Synod Moderator, Rev.R. Lalchangliana had the honour of opening the school.
The government of Mizoram named the Sikulsen as Boys’ Primary School, while the Boys’ Middle School was named as Sikulpui. When the schools were back under the vise of the Synod, the Synod Education Board decided to collectively name the two schools as ‘Sikulpui’, since the name signified an important piece of landmark in its history. SIKULPUI became the school’s official name, and it is a Mizo medium school for boys.
The 2020 -2021 and 2021 -2022 session classes were conducted online due to the advent of Covid-19, while the 2022 -2023 session was started on 11th April 2022. This time, the school was able to conduct the normal offline classes for the students.
Noted below is the employment status of Sikulpui:
Employees (October 2022) :
Headmaster - 1, Teaching staff - 11 (contract) & 2 (daily basis), Non-teaching staff - 3,
Total – 17 employees
Number of students :
Number of students: Primary section - 83, Middle section - 121, Total - 204
Initially, there were a total of 12 Contract Teachers, but one teacher resigned due to health complications. Hindi and Mizo teachers are employed on a daily basis, while 1 Voluntary Teacher is also employed.
Contact : 0389 2335980/9436152024
Email: mpcsikulpui@gmail.com