From Our Correspondent
GUWAHATI: The University of Science and Technology, Meghalaya (USTM) located at Baridua in Ri Bhoi district of Meghalaya held a meeting with the headmen of different villages as well as principals of the schools in the Baridua area under Ri Bhoi district to announce a co-curricular festival for the children and others to promote education and entrepreneurship among the neighbourhood people. Named the ‘USTM Neighbourhood Mission Festival’, it will take place in the month of December. “By the next five years, all the villages surrounding USTM must be transformed into ideal villages. We put most emphasis on education and ensure to provide all support so that students from these villages can avail higher education”, said M Hoque, Chancellor of USTM. Also termed as ‘knowledge festival’, the USTM Neighborhood Mission Festival will be held at different parts of the Baridua area to attract children and youth for education and business ideas. He said that the University is also ready to offer other needed facilities to the economically downtrodden families. The representatives from the villages of the area put forward the problems they have been facing and also suggested some possible solutions to them. They said that school dropout had been a major problem and this was happening due to many factors like poverty, lure for easy money, etc.