On 7th May 2025, the Department of Political Science, Sikkim Government College, Namchi, under the banner of IQAC, conducted a lecture titled, ‘Mary Scott: The Eastern Himalayan Mission and Sikkim’. The speaker of the programme was Mr. Walter Scott, Civil Servant (policy and communications), Ministry of Defence, UK cum Historian in collaboration with Dept of History, Sikkim University. The student’s participants were from the 6th Semester of the Departments of Sociology, History, Political Science to mandatorily. attend the talk and interested faculty members are welcome to join the programme.
The programme started with a welcome speech by Dr. Panu Pazo which was followed by the main talk by Mr. Walter Scott. He began his deliberation by mentioning the works of Rev. Macfarlane and Dr. Graham in the late 1880’s in Darjeeling and Kalimpong and the first local aide, Sukhman Limboo. He then spoke about the life and initial contributions of Miss Mary Scott in Kalimpong in 1905 where she began her career as a missionary. After a brief stint in Kalimpong, Scott then went to Gangtok, Sikkim in 1924 and was instrumental in establishing the Paljor Namgyal Girl’s School in 1924 and several schools and dispensaries in remote parts of Sikkim, such as Vok, Temi, Chidam, Dentam, and other places. Her contributions to the state was immense because the schools and dispensaries in various parts of Sikkim which was established under her tutelage was later taken up the government and became government run educational institutions.
The speaker also mentioned Bear Grylls as a friend and visitor to the region in the early days of his career. The talk ended with a round of question and answers from the students and faculty members followed by the vote of thanks.