By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, March 20: Covering 11 campuses across East Jaintia Hills, the soft skills and wellbeing winter camps under the “ia ka Mynried” initiative sponsored by the East Jaintia Hills district administration through the District Mineral Foundation, have impacted 1,826 students so far. The latest certification events were held on Tuesday at Iongkaluh village for 247 students of St. Peter Secondary School, and at Byndihati for 126 students of Sacred Heart Secondary School and 315 students of Byndihati Secondary School.
Sutnga-Saipung MLA Santa Mary Shylla was the chief guest at Sacred Heart Secondary School, Byndihati.
Built around the state government’s concerns surrounding substance abuse amongst adolescents, the camps were designed to engage local youth in meaningful workshops that build essential soft skills and self-worth. The curriculum leveraged interactive sessions, storytelling and daily habit-building practices to improve personal confidence, body language and foundational speaking skills. Human values, self-belief and group activities around the word “Future” were a highlight of the approach. Aptly named “ia ka Mynried” which translates from Pnar to “for a better tomorrow”, the winter camps also provided a platform for the students to showcase their talents, bolstering self-esteem and helping the participants to recognise and celebrate personal strengths.
Each campus intervention culminated in a certification event at the end of a 24-hour training period. A significant highlight at each of these certification events was the Wellbeing Pledge taken by the programme participants against drugs and substance abuse. On the same day, some of the participants would take to the stage to share their learnings from the programme, while some showcased their talents in front of the audience.
Graious Phawa, Class 8, St. Peter’s Secondary School, shared her programme experience at the event in Iongkaluh, stating, “This programme has really helped build my confidence and awareness of my physical, mental and emotional health. Our trainer has also taught us how to use different coping skills to deal with emotions such as anger. I have also learnt about the use of power stances and facial expressions to help me speak in public with clarity and confidence.
I would like to thank the DC and his staff for providing us with this programme.”
Speaking at the same event, MLA Santa Mary Shylla said, “The winter camps have created an impact in the district as the students have received the kind of training that can improve their lives. I implore each student to take this as a challenge to be a better person.” She went on to urge the students in leveraging such programmes to work towards their goals in life. “This winter camp is one of the best things that we have done for our students in East Jaintia Hills and we aim to bring it to other schools as well. It is our hope and that of our Deputy Commissioner that this kind of initiative may be carried out to help you become better students and even better human beings,” she concluded.
It may be mentioned that the initiative supports the state’s Drug Reduction Elimination & Action Mission (DREAM) to build a drug-free Meghalaya.
Deputy Commissioner of East Jaintia Hills, Shivansh Awasthi, shared his hopes for the initiative, saying, “In addition to soft skills training, a key practice of this programme is to encourage talent recognition in an effort to help young people identify personal strengths and build self-worth. This is closely aligned to our state’s DREAM mission towards providing youth with opportunities and platforms to realise their potential, rather than falling prey to substance abuse. Drug abuse is a major issue, particularly in our district. And as a district, we must build a benchmark in fighting against menaces that hinder youth aspirations and wellbeing. This programme “ia ka Mynried” is for our youth because they are the future of our state, our country and the whole world.”
Lita Mary Shylla, Class 9, Sacred Heart Secondary School, spoke at the event in Byndihati, saying, “On the first day of this programme, all of us students were engaged in an activity where we made promises for our future, which are closely connected to our own values. During the training programme, we also learnt about goals and to know about our own fears and strengths which will help us achieve our goals.”
Silwillstar Shylla, Class 9, Byndihati Secondary School, also shared his programme experience at the event in Byndihati, saying, “Before this programme, I did not know and never even thought about the proper way to stand or behave while speaking. But in the past one week, our trainer has taught us about power stances and facial expressions to help us speak and interact with people more clearly and confidently. I would like to thank our trainer for teaching us such important things in life through this programme.”
Till date, the “ia ka Mynried” winter camps 2024-25 have been conducted for 11 schools in East Jaintia Hills — Khliehriat Higher Secondary School, Rymbai Government Secondary School, Jalaphet Circle Upper Primary School, Jalaphet Upper Primary School, Narwan Upper Primary & Secondary School, Tluh Upper Primary School, Sacred Heart Upper Primary School, K.B Memorial Secondary School, Sacred Heart Secondary School, St. Peter’s Secondary School and Byndihati Secondary School. The programme is expected to extend to more schools in the district. The programme implementing agency, Meghalaya-based Avenues has been driving personal excellence interventions across the state and Northeast since 2003 to help build confidence, aspirations and resilience in youth.