SHILLONG: Former Lok Sabha Speaker and sitting Tura MP, Purno A. Sangma, on Friday said that there was a need for the tribal communities of the region to change their approach towards education if they wished to remain competitive in this modern era of competition.
“At present, the people of the region do not push for quality education and the reason for this attitude is because the tribal people get everything ‘readymade’. We are provided with scholarships to pursue our studies. We also have reservations in top institutes in the country for pursuing higher studies,” Sangma observed while addressing the inaugural function of the golden jubilee celebration of Synod College here.
He said that the future is going to be different; so the tribal people will have to prepare themselves to face the stiff competition in the global market.
Pointing out that the private sector was growing at a tremendous rate, Sangma said, “The bigger question is whether the tribals are ready to meet the challenges.”
“The tribals are already competing at the national level, he said, adding, “The recent cases of assault on the Northeasterners are the result of insecurity among the mainlanders that youths from the NE region were taking away their jobs.
He also pointed out that sportspersons from the region have excelled in the national and international arena.
Sangma drew attention to the Human Development Index of the United Nations which has indicated that the educated working group of India will grow by 32 per cent in the next 20 years, while the same in the US and European countries will decline by 4 per cent and China will see a decline of 5 per cent.
Shillong MP Vincent H. Pala congratulated Synod College for reaching the Golden Jubilee milestone and said that the college has made huge contributions to the development of education in the State.
“Irrespective of how old a college is, it thrives on its renewal year after year with the joining of new students keeping the college youthful and vibrant where new ideas resonate with aspirations,” Pala said.
While lauding the efforts of the teachers of the institution, he said that the College has produced many prominent personalities with recognition and as teachers they have every reason to be proud of this fact.
Pala hoped that the College would prepare an action plan and when it celebrates its Platinum Jubilee 25 years from now, it must be in a position to proclaim its achievements in qualitative and quantitative terms.
Principal of the College, D. Wanswett, informed the gathering that the College was started on July 1, 1965 with the Arts stream in the evening hours and was run by an ad hoc governing body under the chairmanship of Church elder W. Reade.
It was a small and humble beginning for the College with 28 students under its rolls in the first session in 1965-66 and the first batch of students appeared in the university examination in 1966. On July 14, 1967, BA course was introduced at the Degree level under the Gauhati University in the evening shift.
Wanswett also informed that the College was affiliated to Gauhati University in 1965, and came under the ambit of the North Eastern Hill University in 1973.
