The chief minister and oth-ers in Tripura have applauded a Salesian school in a village in the northeastern Indian state after its girls’ band, formed less than a year ago, made history at national level.
The Girls Brass Band of St Xavier’s Pathaliaghat clinched third place at the National School Band Competition held in New Delhi, January 21-22.
Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha, on his Facebook page, congratulated the band for the achievement. The school, located 36 km south of the state capital of Agartala, set up the band only in April 2023.
The band’s rise to fame “is an incredible story of hard work, discipline, tenacity, and grit,” says principal Salesian Father Babu Stephen.
The band consists of 25 girl students, aged between 11 and 16 and studying in grades 6-8.
Father Stephen confirmed that the students were all “ab-solute beginners, totally new to playing music” before the school launched the brass sand. He said it felt “surreal that even before completing a year of existence, the band has already made a mark at the district, state, zonal, and natio-nal levels.”
To reach the national level competitions the team had to win three earlier stages: the district, the state and the zonal stage. At the zonal stage of the competition, held in Bhubanes-war on December 22.