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Students of Sazolie College in Kohima hold out posters during a campaign event on July 16.[/caption]
Our Correspondent
Kohima, July 16 (EMN): The Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) started a campaign to remove from benefits students who are ineligible for academic scholarships. The campaign, hashed #NOtoFalseClaimOnScholarships, began on Monday morning at Sazolie College in Jotsoma in Kohima district to sensitise and create awareness among students.
The NSF’s president, Kesosul Christopher Ltu, explained the concept behind the campaign. He said there had been many bogus beneficiaries of the pre-matric scholarship scheme over the years in the state. This deprived genuine students who deserved the scholarship, he said.
He said that more than 45, 000 students apply for scholarships off various schemes in Nagaland every year. Some are fully aware of the criteria but choose to be conveniently ignorant and obtain scholarships whether or not one deserves it.
Ltu said it will create publicity in the colleges in the state during the first phase of the campaign. In the second phase some students would be selected to be ambassadors of the campaign to create publicity among various sections of the people, it was informed.
The campaign is a voluntary initiative by the NSF. It has another hash slogan, #ScholarshipToTheDeserving. Ltu maintained that taking a pledge was not an imposition or compulsion on any student. He was optimistic though that the students would take it positively and give chance to genuinely eligible students.
The NSF’s general secretary, Imtiyapang, claimed that the Naga people were once known to be an honest community. However, with time, the people seem to have forgotten the golden legacy left by their forefathers, he said.
He asserted that the time had come for the students to choose to do the right thing and make things right, instead of only talking about bringing change or about doing the right thing.
Aolem Imsong, a campaigner of #NOtoFalseClaimOnScholarships, challenged students to use social media to make a positive impact on the society and to inspire courage in them to do what is right. She expressed disappointment that students, who are well aware of the right and wrong, shall still have to be told to let go of something which is not rightfully theirs.
The pledge reads: “We are dishonest about our parents’ profession and income, we falsify documents, we forge signatures, and effectively deny our fellow students from receiving what is rightfully theirs? Are we not tired of taking of what is not ours? Can we start doing the right thing now? For years we have discussed about doing the right thing and now we can finally choose right over convenience. Join us by pledging your support for this campaign. Help us create awareness and spread this message.”
Some of the students of Sazolie College have pledged to forgo their scholarships. They held out posters that read affirmations: “I won’t lie about my father’s occupation, will you? My father is not a farmer”; “This year I am giving up my Nike shoe, can you? Integrity over greed”; “Do the right thing”; “Obtaining a scholarship for which I am not entitled is my first contribution towards corruption. It stops right now.”
