Correspondent
KIGWEMA, APRIL 12
The biggest drawbacks that many young Nagas are facing today on the road to success are the lack in discipline and low endurance level, said Principal Director for School Education Kesonyü Yhome on Thursday.
Addressing a one-day seminar on career guidance at the Panchayat Hall, Kigwema, the young administrator said self discipline is the foundation and the first qualification needed to succeed in life, without which, he opined that it is not possible to achieve any target. He stated that there are many young promising civil services aspirants but only very few manage to crack the major competitive exams.
While attributing this to lack in self discipline such as setting ambitions to achieve daily targets, Yhome also pointed out that this is also due to lack of endurance. “We start off with a lot of enthusiasm but after a few months, we feel discouraged,” he asserted, and underscored the need to break away from “our comfort zone” and build up on endurance levels.Yhome also stressed on the importance of regularity and punctuality. He expressed concern that these have somewhat become clichéd phrases and many people consider punctuality irrelevant, citing an example that it is considered normal even when something which is fixed to take place at 9 am begins an hour or more later. He explained that maintaining time greatly affects the productivity of the people.
Stating that each person is special in their own way, the administrator called upon the youth to explore their potentials, identify their areas of interest and set their dreams accordingly.
He urged them to introspect and find out where they are lacking and begin with a new zeal. “We have to be adventurous and be risk taking people…safe players will only remain safe and average people,” he stated.
Musician and entrepreneur, Theja Meru, who was the resource person in the second session spoke on the topic ‘Entrepreneurship’. He pointed out that more than 10,000 young Nagas are graduating from college every year but not even a thousand jobs are available in the government sector.
While acknowledging that there used to be a time when it was considered a “shameful status” to not have a government job, Meru said entrepreneurship has become a big alternative today in the context of Nagaland. He narrated his own experiences as a struggling entrepreneur in the earlier years and the sacrifices and challenges that lie ahead of any youth who decide to take up entrepreneurship.
He said that entrepreneurship is the business of dreaming and imagining, of taking bold steps and taking risks to venture out to create wealth and improve the lives of the entrepreneur and others around him/her.
He encouraged the youth to take pride in themselves if they wanted to start an entrepreneurship. He asserted that resources are not in the ground but in the head of the entrepreneur and as such, he/she has to choose to be humble, be a great salesperson, build the personality and character, and most importantly, build his/her brand.
Theja, said entrepreneurship is a big word but with an equally exciting future. He described ‘exciting’ in the sense that it gives the satisfaction of being productive from what one enjoys doing by applying one’s ideas.
Meru also pointed out that though government jobs do provide the security of a standard salary every month, entrepreneurship presents the prospect of making more wealth if the business is undertaken with determination and earnestness.
Meanwhile, Kohima Science College HOD Botany, Associate Prof. Megoneitso Meyase dwelled on the topic of integrated farming. He listed out and explained the prospectives of both agriculture and animal farming.
Stating that in the present day, people are becoming more and more health conscious, he said the traditional organic farming has a huge market potential.
Even kitchen or backyard gardens, according to agriculturists, brings flourishing returns, he said. The educationist observed that with the modern technologies available for farming, varied avenues to earn livelihood are achievable.
He also talked about taking risks and working tenaciously in order to increase productivity and urged upon the youth to expand their works and projects in the vicinity of the village.
The seminar, held on the theme ‘Be Prepared’, was jointly organized by the Kigwema Students’ Union and Centenary Education Committee (KBC). Convener of Centenary Education Committee, Jalesoü Yhoshü and KSU president, Teisovi Thorie also delivered brief speeches at the programme.
