The recent report that the government of India had approved to upgrade the District Hospital Mon to a full-fledged medical college brought much cheer to the people of Nagaland. It was music to the ears of the public. Close on the heels of this announcement, the state government laid the foundation stone for Professional College of Music and Fine Arts at Tsiesema village on September 7. This is an interesting development and a welcoming move that has the potential to help not only the citizens of the state but also perhaps the region and the country in the long run. The state still doesn’t have a functional medical college. The building that is supposed to house the state’s first such institute in Kohima is still under construction. With the world emphasising all the more on improving healthcare system following the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, setting up medical colleges will enhance the state’s health infrastructure immensely. So, the approval of a new medical college couldn’t have come at a better time.
An institute for music and fine arts too is interesting as the Northeast region is known for its love of music. Irrespective of whether people from the state have made it big in music industry or not, it is a fact that there are a lot of talented musicians and many from Indian cities identify people from the Northeast through music. Establishing an institute for music will not only help produce musicians from the state but also attract students from across the country and beyond. With the education system in India all set to go through a sea change once the recently approved National Education Policy 2020 is implemented; offering students the flexibility to choose subjects they wish to study and no hard separation between curricular, extra-curricular, arts, humanities, vocational, sciences etc., more people from other Indian states could start enrolling in music and fine arts courses. In such a case, Nagaland should be the preferred destination.
Self-reliance has become the buzzword for almost all countries and states, including Nagaland after experiencing the hardships during the Covid-induced lockdown. And self-reliance is possible through quality education, which will help all professions, be it entrepreneurs, farmers, or government servants. Quality education is no doubt the single-most important factor in the development of any society. For this reason, the state government should focus on providing quality education to the young minds at an affordable cost and create academic institutions of eminence. It will provide wings to our youths to fly, avoid draining of economy through sending of children to other states for higher education, as well as attract students from other places to our shores in pursuit of knowledge. Availability of talent will also attract investors and entrepreneurs from across the globe to invest in the state, which will in turn open up employment opportunities to capable youths. No state will lose by investing in education; its benefits much exceed economic development. If we succeed in making Nagaland an education hub for at least some fields, the dream of establishing a self-reliant, sustainable, and healthy society won’t be a distant one.
