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KOHIMA — As many as 108 students of the High School Leaving Certificate (HSLC) 2023 and 2024 batches were awarded with the Chief Ministers’ Meritorious Students Fellowship (CMMSF) at the Capital Convention Centre, Kohima, on Saturday.
Advisor of School Education and SCERT, Dr. Kekhrielhoulie Yhome presented the achievers with the fellowship that comes with a cash reward of INR 50,000 for each student, along with citation. Started in 2019, more than 200 students have availed the CMMSF till date.
Congratulating the achievers, Yhome said they were fortunate and that their achievement would become meaningless if they do not give back to the society and help the people.
He also encouraged them to venture out and make the state proud.
‘Most of the achievers are from urban areas. The state is faced with lot of challenges including geographical, socio-economic and access to basic health care facilities. As it tries to provide education to every nook and corner, every village in the borders, the department is working very hard,’ he said, adding that it is their duty to provide best education to students.
As far as the trend of education in Nagaland is concerned, it has come a long way. But today, it stands at the threshold of the global trend with India as a global leader, amongst developing country, he said.
On being one of the states with the highest dropout rate in the country, he said that he used to tell teachers to be more kind to students, especially Class 9 students, because that is the bottleneck.
Also speaking at the event, Chairperson of NBSE Asano Sekhose said that the CMMSF is an effort of the state government to boost education in the state.
She said that the fellowship has been highly sought-after by the student community, creating an ecosystem in the education sector where excellence is worth pursuing.
The fellowship is granted to 50 students in the top rank in the HSLC examination conducted by NBSE. The selection is based on the rank/marks secured in the HSLC Examination in order of merit. The selected students must belong to an Indigenous Scheduled Tribe of Nagaland and the grant of CMMSF is awarded for five years.
However, to achieve the desired objective of CMMSF, the annual academic performance of the 50 awarded students is continuously monitored.
Among the 108 eligible students for this year’s fellowship, 57 are from 2023 batch and 51 from 2024 batch.
Khotolü Cürha, HSLC 2023 batch, and Mhachilo Yanthan, HSLC 2024 batch, spoke on behalf of the awardees at the event on Saturday.