Media Release

Puttur, Feb 26: NCC Day was celebrated on February 13 by the army, navy and air wing cadets of St Philomena High School, here.

The chief guest Dr Rajendra K V, IAS, assistant commissioner, taluk's sub-division, inaugurated the celebrations by hoisting the NCC flag and received the guard of honour. At the outset, the audience condoled the death of the 10 brave soldiers including the three from Karnataka, who had recently laid down their lives at Siachen.

Speaking on the occasion Dr Rajendra said, “The role of soldiers in serving the nation is highly commendable. They guard the nation day and night selflessly. But serving the nation is not just the duty of the soldiers. Every energetic Indian should shoulder the responsibility of protecting the nation and enthusiastic  Indians should come forward to protect the nation.”  He wished the cadets would be  good and disciplined citizens, have a definite goal in life  and dedicate themselves for safeguarding the interests of the nation. He asked them to be role models for other students of the school.

Fr Alfred J Pinto, the correspondent of the school and parish priest of  Mai De Deus Church, presided over the function. In his presidential address, he called upon the NCC cadets to serve the nation in a disciplined manner and bring honour to the nation, their school and to their parents.
N K Jagannivasa Rao, president, old students association, Vijaya Saraswathi, vice–president, parent teachers association were the guests of honour.  Fr Vijay Lobo, principal, St Philomena PU College and Fr Peter Serrao were also present.

Floral tribute was paid, on the occasion to retired soldiers like Lt Col G D Bhat, Edward Fernandes, Joe D’Souza, Suresh Shenoy Parladka, Jayanth Bekal, Ramesh Babu, Nagappa Gowda, Chanchalaksha, Jerome Mascarenhas, Ramachandra, Tulasidas, Jagannath Rai, Sundara Gowda, Radhakrishna.  The  retired NCC officers of St Philomena High School, Lewis Mascarenhas, Purushottam M S and Hilda D’Souza of St Victor’s High School were also present. Naval Cadet Swasthik P was  felicitated for securing the fifth place in the South Zonal Level Science model competition.

Oswald Rodrigues, headmaster,  St Philomena High School, welcomed the gathering. School Air Wing officer Roshan Sequeira proposed the vote of thanks. Rajshekhar, a staff member compered the programme. School NCC officers Peter Naresh Lobo and Clement Pinto assisted in organizing the programme. B J Suvarna, the retired professor of St Philomena College, Rajesh Bannur, corporator and other dignitaries were present. The attractive march-past and the silent drill organized by the NCC cadets was well appreciated.