‘Establishment of medical college must be expedited’
Our Correspondent
Kohima | January 31
The Nagaland Vision 2030 document stated that the Government of India must establish some iconic National institutions in Nagaland by 2030.
It stated that the state must take proactive measure to build up technical institutions adding the establishment of medical college must be expedited so also the long pending proposal for the establishment of a Central Agricultural University.
“This must be taken up on priority keeping in mind the fact that the state’s economy will remain agriculture based for a long time to come,” the vision document stated.
It also stressed the need to establish medical, engineering IT and management institute by 2030.
Underlining the need to establish colleges of forestry, horticulture and fishery by 2030, it also stressed on the need to establish institutes such as Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) and School of Planning and Architecture (SPA) and also make Veterinary College Jalukie as National Centre of Excellence for veterinary science. “There should be a policy for promotion of private institutions, colleges and universities within premium on technical institutions. Such private sector colleges should be promoted in the more interior districts such as Eastern Nagaland,” it stated.
It also observed that the state should formulate proper accreditation and quality control policies by 2020.
It observed that promoting the potential of Nagaland to attract students from the South East Asian countries is essential, for which development of higher and technical education should form an integral part of the Vision.
Other findings include; substantial investment in higher education must be made for fruition of the Vision, NAAC accreditation of all colleges by 2020, digitization of library and training of all librarians, e-classrooms and related ICT infrastructure for all colleges by 2020-2025, upgradation of infrastructure for all colleges, Kohima Science College Jotsoma to be upgraded to the status of Deemed University by 2021, establish job oriented institutes such as aviation maritime and sports institutes along with polytechnics and tool rooms, set up institutes for bamboo, bee-keeping, biodiversity, climate change and sustainable development, incentive entry of private sector for higher and technical education, promote the private universities such as North Eastern Christian University (NECU), St. Joseph’s University, strengthen the existing technical institutions and establish centres of excellence in discipline such as IT, Hospitality, Journalism etc.
The Vision document stated that the biggest challenge for the state will be to train Naga youths to develop the desired skills so that the local youth can replace the non-local workers particularly in government constructions such as buildings, roads, bridges etc.
“In the face of enormous challenges both economic and social, which have been aggravated by high percentage of educated unemployed youth, the government has to utilize education as the game changer to optimize the human resource capital to take the state forward,” it stated.
Approximately, 65,000-67,000 students pass out every year from Class 8 and above upto the degree level. The state therefore need to focus on manpower planning in the absence of industries and organized private sector, as almost all educated youth look for government jobs as employment. However, there is practically very less scope for government jobs as employment in the government is already saturated.
It also stated that there is need to focus and invest on a strong vocational education right from elementary level of education as many students drop out of school at the level of Class 8 & 9.
