SHILLONG: Over 150 students from Jaintia Eastern College, East Jaintia Hills gathered on Saturday to celebrate their graduation from the Aspire Meghalaya programme, a Ministry-supported initiative that has been taken across several districts in Meghalaya in recent months.
Aspire Meghalaya is a programme that is focused on equipping the state’s youth with the soft skills they will need to be career-ready as well as prepare them to meet national and international professional standards.
Prior to their graduation, the students from Jaintia Eastern College had been through a week-long training with the life coaches from AVENUES, who are the state partners taking the programme to several campuses in the state.
The intensive sessions were focussed on personal as well as professional development of the students in the areas of communication, leadership and resilience, with the aim of building the students’ confidence as they work towards achieving their aspirations.
With efforts on campus being led by Avenues campus coordinator, Mankhraw Kharbuli, the graduation ceremony was marked by a number of performances and testimonials from the participants of the programme from the college.
The ceremony saw a few cultural performances with the first performance being that of a cultural song presented by a group of students dressed in traditional attire. (Contd. on P-10)
Aspire Meghalaya programme…
(Contd. from P-3) Another performance was a cultural dance performed by TheimonDkhar and her fellow peers which delighted the audience with its lively delivery.
A notable performance was a play enacted by a group of participants which highlighted the message of picking oneself up after set-backs to progress towards a better future.
Students also took to the stage to present testimonies of their time with the Aspire Meghalaya programme.
Banpynskhembha Papang, career guidance coordinator, Jaintia Eastern College addressed the gathering by saying that he had witnessed a definite change in the students who had participated in the programme.
“On the third day, I noticed that you had started to gain confidence – some of you have even gotten up here to speak. The programme has given you such a great opportunity and I’m so happy to see the confidence in your faces.”
He expressed his gratitude towards the supporting government departments and the trainers from Avenues for the success of the programme.
Davidson Diengdoh, Vice Principal of the college said, “I am very proud that our society will change through this channel. I am glad that you have now been trained by the leading trainers of our state.”
Diengdoh also urged the students to believe in themselves and to aspire to become more than they think they can achieve, no matter what background they may come from.
Speaking on the occasion, Wanphrang H Gassah, District Librarian, Jowai, congratulated the efforts of the trainers and urged the students to carry forward the lessons that they learned during the programme.
Speaking of his own humble background, he said that he too had self-esteem issues when it came to surviving in bigger towns but urged the students to have confidence in themselves.
Aspire Meghalaya is a unique initiative that is supported by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India, and implemented through the Department of Arts and Culture, Government of Meghalaya, and AVENUES.
The programme has been taken across the state over the last few months and has so far had an impact on 4,000 tribal youths.
