SHILLONG: July 9 was a red-letter day in the history of Garo Hills as Don Bosco Academy was formally inaugurated in the presence of a host of dignitaries, staff and students of Don Bosco College, Tura.
Fr. George Plathottam, Rector, Don Bosco College, Tura and the chief architect of the Academy, invited the students to avail the high profile training with latest technology offered by the college.
Ram Singh, Deputy Commissioner, West Garo Hills asked the audience to cash in on the training not only for civil services but also for their personal development to make a ‘worthy contribution to society’.
He said that in this competitive age, a mere graduation would take them nowhere. In order to have a cutting edge over hundreds of other competitors, he said it is imperative to excel in three skills – effective communication in English, mastery of general knowledge and good knowledge of mathematics.
The deputy commissioner also lauded Don Bosco College, Tura for providing excellent infrastructural facilities in salubrious surroundings, interspersing academic studies with sports, cultural activities and an array of programmes to prepare responsible citizens for society.
Prateek Bhattacharjee, National Business Head, Alternative Learning Systems, asked the students to invest four hours each for two days over the weekends.
Bhattacharjee said since not all were called to enter the civil services, other services depending on their talents would also be welcome. He cited the example of scores of students from the North East who had temporarily migrated to Delhi with dreams of making it big but they struggled with pollution, sanitation, hostility and many other issues.
Having set up 75 centres in North East, he was confident that the people of West Garo hills would not miss the opportunity of taking advantage of satellite assisted training for the civil services in their very home town.
A.K. Tigidi, IAS (retd), the first Garo to join the prestigious civil services recounted the hardships he had to face to make his dream come true. Switching from English to Garo so as to bond with the student community, he asked them to grab the services provided by Don Bosco Academy to be part of the elite civil services.
