Dimapur, April 21(EMN): Dimapur Government College inaugurated two projects of the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (Rusa; Hindi for ‘national higher education mission’) in the college’s campus in Dimapur on Sat. April 21.
The minister for Higher Education Temjen Imna Along inaugurated the two projects. The new facilities are an administrative building and a floriculture nursery. A museum in the college was also inaugurated by the director of Higher Education Kuholi Chishi.
Rusa is an ambitious project which was introduced in 2013, and undertaken by the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development. It provides for strategic funding to the higher education sector in the country. The objective of the mission is to improve the quality of higher education through academic, institutional, and governance inputs, among others.
The floriculture nursery was built as part of a component for ‘vocationalisation’ of higher education. The administrative building was through an infrastructure grant to colleges.
According to a faculty member of the college, the two projects were launched in January 29 2015 with a budget of two crore.
In his address, Along considered the inauguration of the projects a historic moment. Historic, he said, because it was the first project among 15 to be inaugurated. He specifically spoke about the administrative building. To him, it is ‘one of the best buildings among the projects he has seen.’ He thanked the contractors for ‘being accountable,’ saying that accountability was an important endeavor.’
Also, the legislator lamented that the people had been deprived for long. He questioned the previous government why they had to spend by the crore outside the state when ‘roads are quite pathetic in Nagaland,’ for instance. However he said that it was never too late to start anew.
“Our time, my time, your time” is the mentality of the Naga people, he said. ‘We only think about this and this is the problem in our society,’ according to him. “When we talk about education, we are talking about the future of Nagaland.”
To make the future fruitful, he said it requires the effort of everyone and not only ministers or directors. He said that one should seek ways to be responsible and not shirk responsibility. “We are a taking society,” he said but he wants also that the people learn something to give back to the people. He called for faith in the current government: “It’s a new time, let change start from here.”
Chishi, who inaugurated the museum, said it was ‘a homecoming’ for her. She was the former principal of the college. She encouraged the college to march forward for quality and quantity. She expressed hope that the college would become a cornerstone in the field of higher education in Nagaland.
