Connecting people through education

Governor PB Acharya says educational institutions should be nodal agents for development [caption id="attachment_74554" align="alignleft" width="300"] Governor PB Acharya and Minister of School Education Yitachu seen during the programme at Raj Bhavan on September 14.[/caption] KOHIMA, SEPTEMBER 14: Students and teachers from Nagaland will soon be getting more opportunities for educational and cultural exchange programmes with their counterparts of other universities in the mainland. The universities and educational institutions in Nagaland Wednesday have decided to conduct students and teachers exchange programmes with the Nitte University of Mangalore. This initiative is aimed at fostering better understanding among the mainland people and the north eastern region. Representatives of Nitte University, Mangalore, led by its Vice Chancellor, Dr. S. Ramananda Shetty and Vice Chancellor of The Global Open University Nagaland (TGOUN), H.N. Dutta, Pro-Vice Chancellor of ICFAI University, Prof Alexander and representatives from some colleges in the State met at Raj Bhavan this morning and have come out with the decision to collaborate and work together in imparting knowledge to one another. This was done in the presence of P.B. Acharya, Governor of Nagaland and Minister for School Education and SCERT, Yitachu.Stressing on the importance of people-to-people exchange programmes, Governor Acharya expressed his hope that such get-together programmes will immensely encourage the north eastern people, especially the students, to get on board and come at par with the rest of the country. “In order to develop a sense of unity and oneness, people-to-people contact and educational and cultural exchange programmes is the only way,” the Governor said. Acharya called upon the universities in the mainland to take up such programmes for the north east region as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). This, he said maintaining that every educated person or affluent section of our society should hold equal responsibility towards contributing something for the uplift of our society. “Universities and educational institutions should be nodal agents for development and not only the centre for educational excellence,” the Governor said and urged the need to organise more innovative programmes which would benefit not only a section of people but the society at large. Speaking at the programme, the VC of Nitte University, Mangalore, Dr. Shetty said the purpose of their visit is to interact and get connected with the NE students besides conceptualising the ideas and programmes for the interest of the north east region. Dr. Shetty stated the need to encourage the mainland people learn more about the cultural diversity of the people of North East. He informed that his university has come up with a six months certificate course on four languages of the North East. The languages are Assamese from Assam, Khasi from Meghalaya and Mao and Meiteilong from Manipur. It was informed that the faculties were also been appointed from the respective tribes. Meanwhile, both sides have also agreed to hold collaborative research on the rich culture of the region and also the different herbal plants available in the region.