Our Correspondent
KOHIMA SEPTEMBER 12
‘Education is just a way to direct a person to the right path; it is a way to develop courage, application of mind and make a person to develop ideas to make calculated risk,’ said Chubasangla, OSD for Higher Education today at the 12th convocation for freshmen of the Chang Students’ Union Kohima. The event was conducted at Ura Academy in Kohima town on Saturday.
Addressing the students as the guest speaker she posed a question to the students to ponder about their aims and purposes on why they have come to the state capital to pursue their studies when a college and other educational institutions are right there at their doorstep. To this, she said each student should have the determination to catch up with the other advance people of the state, the will power to excel and perform better than the others at home.
Comparing an educational institution to a flower garden where there are different kinds of insects, she said there are three different types of students, one who is like the bee coming to suck the nectar of the flower to make the sweetest honey; the other like butterfly who comes to show off its features and fashion, and the other is compared to a spider who comes to the garden with an intention to snare its prey into its woven web.Therefore, she asked the students to which category they belonged to, and advised them to get the best of their institution, try to develop themselves and bring out the best in you.
Coming to the mad rush for government jobs in the state, the guest speaker maintained that white collar is the not the only way to earn one’s livelihood when there are lots of opportunities and avenues to venture into.
While stating that the educational system has been made vocational so that students can be acquainted with various kinds of vocations to take up as per one’s interest, she urged the students not to be a parasite to the society and to somebody stating this is not an era of dependency.
She also challenged the students to do away with the backward tag which has been there for too long inspite of so many years gone by and lot of educated people and learned men. Citing reasons to this problem, she said people lack in knowledge and giving back, and people fails to utilize their knowledge in the right direction even if they have the knowledge and education.
Therefore, she asked the students not to waste their knowledge in order to free themselves from the bondage of backward tag. ‘To lead our society towards progress and development let us harness the knowledge and apply it in the right path. When you have sow the seeds, don’t go back empty handed. Be a fruitful citizen’ she advised the students.
Speaking as the chief guest, Dr Nicky Kire, Minister for Forest, Environment & Climate Change also expressed concerned on the high rise of educated unemployed youths of the people of the state. While pointing out the fact that completing one’s graduation and even for that matter your post graduation does not assure anyone of getting a government job, he also stated that our Nagas think of government job as the only and be all, which he said has reached its saturation point and will be hard to come by.
Briefly highlighting on the importance of skill development which the state government has also giving important since the recent years, he encouraged the students to look out for advertisements in the paper and go for those skill developments training which would help them in finding out areas of their interests.
He also said that we Nagas have good opportunities, wherein firms and companies from outside are willing to come and recruit our Naga boys and girls on the spot.
He also talked about the status consciousness of our Naga people wherein people madly compete for material things to possess the latest and the best of everything.
In this regard, he strongly advised the students not to be status conscious when they are nobody in life and when they are not earning anything by their sweat. ‘Opportunity will not come knocking on the door until you go out and look for it. Struggle to get a job, to be successful’ he added.
He also advised the students to refrain from harmful habits like smoking, drinking and experimenting with drugs and sex, to which he said would bring diseases like HIV, hepatitis etc, apart from ruining one’s life and career.
He also fervently appealed to the students not to be a liability on their parents and the society at large, stating that all parents wants the best for their children pinning hope that they would someday become somebody and be an asset to the society.
The programme chaired by Betisonla was blessed by Anungla, Pastor, CBLK. O Yongching Khumla, Deputy Secretary, SCERT also spoke on the topic ‘Plant the seed, harvest the dream’ while a special prayer for the new students was offered by Onen, Association Pastor (Youth), CBLK.