Students from Nagaland have ‘problem of not dreaming big’ — Shanavas

Our Correspondent
Kohima, March 15 (EMN): The principal director of School Education, Shanavas C, on Monday said that students in Nagaland have a ‘problem of not dreaming big’ and called upon the society to motivate them.

He was speaking at the felicitation programme held at the directorate of School Education in Kohima for government school students who secured first, second and third positions in the department’s online evaluation phase I, II and III.

A total of eight meritorious students received smart phones, which were donated by well-wishers.

Shanavas lamented that many students from the state go back home without any goal and determination after graduating from college because of “not dreaming big”, when they should be fit to take up any work.

He called upon the parents and the society to get involved, motivate and encourage the students to dream big, pointing out that the Education department has limitations as it is ‘not directly accessible to the students’.

While pointing out that education was hit hard by the pandemic, because of which online education was introduced in the state, he said online evaluation revealed the huge education gap with students from private institutions performing better as their parents are economically privileged to buy gadgets, while as students from government schools lag behind due to lack of facilities to access online classes.

On finding the issue, the principal director maintained that the plan to gift smart phones to students was ‘initiated on a personal level and contribution without government funding’ with an objective to help them. He told the students to use the mobile phones for learning purposes and not get addicted to social media and online games.

He expressed gratitude to all the donors who contributed and make the programme of gifting mobile phones to students successful. He went on to inform that the department will conduct more activities like quiz competitions and other initiatives to engage with the students.

 The assistant director of School Education, B Nellayappan, said in his introductory remark that the ‘Smart phone gift’ programme was as initiative of the Shanavas.

He maintained that initially, the initiative was to give used smart phones to students but it changed after receiving positive response from well-wishers, as donors had contributed brand new mobile phones for the programme.