Approach road to Jalukie’s lone private college in need of repair

Vishü Rita Krocha
Kohima | April 18

With an enrolment of 338 students, St Xavier College, the only private college in Jalukie has come a long way since its establishment in 2005. Having started out with only 7 students, the College reportedly had 7 students in the State rank list in the last academic session.

While the College strives to provide a bright road to the future for the students, the same cannot be said about the road leading to the College.

The 900-metre road leading to St Xavier College from the main road has been in a dilapidated condition for years.

Every year, the College would make temporary attempts to fix the road using sand gravel and stones.

“We have to keep doing this,” Dr Fr Francis Cheerangal, Principal of St Xavier’s College, Jalukie who took charge of the college in 2017 relates to The Morung Express.

He shares that 15 bicycles had been kept aside to encourage students to ride to college and reduce their expenses, but because of the road condition, the initiative has been affected.

This year, instead of doing small repairs every now and then, the College has initiated the process of blacktopping the approach road.

The soiling of the road is done, the Principal shares. In the beginning of the year, the President of Catholic Association of Nagaland (CAN) Johnny Ruangmei also sponsored in the repair of 80 meters of the road.

“My main concern is the construction of the road,” the Principal says, and shares that the College is in need of help for procuring bitumen barrels for construction of the roadway. A barrel costs around Rs 10,500, he says.

Dr Fr Francis Cheerangal, who hails from Kerala, had earlier approached friends and well wishers in his home State.

“Out of 112 barrels of bitumen that we need, we received 14 barrels from people in Kerala,” he shares.

For the remaining barrels, he expressed hope that people in Nagaland would come forward to support the initiative.

It may be mentioned that besides taking academic strides, the College is also a thriving centre for sports such as cricket, basketball and volleyball. Students and others come to the College to practice on a daily basis.

Some of them were also among those selected from Peren district to represent Nagaland in the national games in Indore in the month of March.

“This campus is actually big and there are all possibilities even for games and other activities. We want more and more people to be using this campus,” the Principal shares.

He expresses strong belief that more educated youth, who are brought up constructively will make a difference, and hopes to play a part in producing such youth through the College.

In the near future, he also hopes to introduce cycle race in the College although given the road condition, it is difficult right now, he adds.

At present, few students come to College riding bicycles but I am sure, if the road gets repaired, many more will follow, he shares.

One barrel of bitumen will make all the difference, the Principal appeals, as the completion of the 900-metre road before the onset of monsoon poses a crucial task for the College and its students.