OSTD Academic Trust honours Impunenla Pongen with the OSTD Academic Excellence Award and conducts mental health awareness
DIMAPUR — The Ongpangkong Senso Telongjem Dimapur (OSTD) Academic Trust organised an OSTD Academic Excellence Award-cum-Mental Health and Emotional Well-being Awareness Programme at the auditorium of Dimapur Government College on Saturday.
The event honoured a top-ranking student of the Nagaland Board of School Education (NBSE) High School Leaving Certificate (HSLC) examination, according to a press release.
The award was presented to Impunenla Pongen, who secured the 17th position in the NBSE HSLC examination 2026. She studied at Unity Christian Higher Secondary School and is currently a student of Little Star Higher Secondary School.
In her acceptance speech, Pongen said the achievement belonged not to her alone but to the Ao community, whose prayers had sustained her. She stated that she had always aspired and prayed to be among the top 20 and worked towards that goal.
Delivering the words of exhortation, Limatoshi Jamir, Additional Controller and HoD of the Department of Legal Metrology and Consumer Protection, expressed concern over mental health and emotional well-being. He outlined two philosophical views: moral relativism, which holds that right and wrong depend on cultural, social, historical, or individual perspectives, and moral universalism, which holds that a single, universal system of ethics applies to all people equally.
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He pointed out that excessive internet use exposes young minds to multiple cultural and lifestyle perspectives, often leading to comparisons between their lived reality and what they see online, and ultimately to confusion.
While encouraging youth to expand their learning horizons, he cautioned that learning should not become a source of frustration. He advised them to learn both the strengths and weaknesses of others, to know their ancestral history and where they come from, and to be contextual.
The second session, on the theme “Understanding your emotions", was led by resource person Ketuno Sophie Imchen, Counsellor at Roots & Wings, Dimapur.
She stated that mental health is about how people think, feel, and behave, and that everyone has mental health just as everyone has physical health.
Feeling sadness, anger, or stress is normal, she said, but prolonged distress needs attention. She told participants that a person's worth is not determined by marks, appearance, popularity, or failure, and that every life has value.
The OSTD Academic Excellence was constituted in 2022, and since then five students have been conferred the recognition with cash and certificates.