Introduction
Such is the legacy and love for the school, that the past students have formed an alumni organisation known as NOBA (Netarhat Old Boys Association).
Netarhat School alumni (a.k.a - members of NOBA) are spread all over the world - from Patna, India to New York, USA. NOBA members share a very strong bond amongst themselves. They also organise regular get-togethers for members and their families. One can find a NOBA chapter in almost every major city in India and many cities around the world.
NOBA members have excelled in numerous fields including Administration, Research and Development, Medicine, Engineering and Education; and have gone on to hold important positions in top organisations across India and around the world.
Evolution
NOBA was formed in June 1960, when the first batch of the students was getting ready to graduate and leave Netarhat after 6 years of schooling. Pradhanji (Principal) Shriman JN Dar (Ex- Scindia school) & Shriman Binod Kumar Sinha (Ex-Doon school) met with a few of the graduating class leaders, and that is how NOBA was born! Pradhanji Dar was the first Chairman and Shriman BK Sinha ji was the first Secretary of NOBA.
In the early days, NOBA annual meetings were held at Netarhat every year, and a report was presented during the school’s annual day celebrations. The alumni who attended the annual meetings became part of the decision-making process. Some of the past Secretaries of NOBA have been: Shriman Mangal Deo Pandey, Shriman BD Pandey, Shriman Swaroop to name a few.
Our Purpose
Most Netarhat students are deeply and emotionally attached to their Ashram and the school because of spending their formative years (age 10 to 17) at Netarhat. A key purpose of forming NOBA was to enable the alumni to keep its spirit of belonging to the Ashram and the School alive.
Building a thriving, strong community of Netarhat alumni with diverse opportunities to socialize and bond with each other is both a key-value provided by NOBA and is also the source of its strength.
With the passage of time and increase in its size, NOBA has diversified to include additional objectives as below:
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Help the current generation of Netarhat students and the Netarhat school
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Strategically deploy the unparalleled array of influence, intellect, and resources of NOBA members to help our benefactor states of Bihar and Jharkhand
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Celebrate exceptional achievers in the global NOBA family and promote the pursuit of excellence as indicated by “Attadeepa Viharatha”
Our Approach
Creating Community
Unlike many organizations with rigid rules, NOBA has a completely organic and flexible approach to enable interaction among its members in a format and frequency that works for them. For example, NOBA groups can be:
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Local, regional, national, or global
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Digital (e.g., WhatsApp groups and groups on the NOBA site) or physical
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Consisting of classmates, ashram-mates, or common profession/ interest, etc.
These groups:
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Share and celebrate events and successes across groups to build a viral, ongoing wave of camaraderie.
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Support NOBA members (or their families) that are facing a financial or medical crisis through initiatives like e-Sneh on a voluntary basis
Supporting Netarhat
NOBA intends to support the Netarhat Vidyalaya in a variety of ways. To support this mission, we can consider the following proposed structure OR any other efficient structure:
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An elected group of domestic NOBA members in India (on a rotation basis) to interact with the students, teachers, staff, and administrators to help the students at Netarhat school
Key responsibilities of this group are two-fold:
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Define and align on the objectives and priorities every year in consultation with all stakeholders
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Implement the approved initiatives such as mentoring, career guidance, personality development, electronics, Internet, books, supplies for classrooms/labs/sports/ashrams, etc.
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An elected group of global NOBA members (on a rotation basis) to work with various NOBA chapters to marshall resources such as volunteer time, funding, supplies, content, etc., needed to support the prioritized initiatives
Encouraging Excellence
NOBA will encourage excellence among its members by creating, funding and bestowing various awards. Candidates can be current or former students, teachers, or staff members of Netarhat Vidyalaya. Awards will be funded by the global NOBA fraternity and delivered to deserving candidates in a manner befitting their achievements.
A group of prominent NOBA members and volunteers (both on a rotation basis) will execute the above award process. This group will be responsible for defining and publishing a clear set of criteria for eligibility as well as the final selection. Initial filtering of candidates may be done by electronic voting across all NOBA members, if feasible, while the final selection will be made by the above group.
Making a difference
There is an intent to register NOBA as a non-profit organization in India and the US. Such registration will provide NOBA with both a legal entity structure as well as an ability to raise funds from a wider source on a tax-deductible basis. All activities supported by these donations will be managed in a professional and auditable manner.
To support this mission, we can consider the following proposed structure OR any other efficient structure:
An elected group of domestic NOBA members (on a 2-year rotational basis) will work with the local governments and population to define priorities every 2 years. Primary education, girls’ education, access to Netarhat for very poor kids, Swachchha Bihar/Jharkhand, primary health, etc.are some of the ways in which NOBA can make a difference to the local community. This group will also organize visible examples of volunteer work associated with NOBA and provide well-researched policy proposals to the local governments.
Another elected group of global NOBA members (on a 2-year rotational basis) will work with the various NOBA chapters and external funding agencies to marshall resources (time, money, supplies, contacts with influential people, etc.) needed to execute the prioritized initiatives.
