Dimapur: Elocution competition held in Tetso College

Tetso College students during the elocution competition held in the college auditorium on November 11. (Photo Courtesy: Tetso College)
 

Dimapur, November 11 (MExN): In observance of National Education Day, the Departments of Education and Sociology, Tetso College, organized an elocution competition under the topic ‘Right to Education’ in the college auditorium on November 11.

The competition was participated by a total of nine students who were allotted a time limit of five minutes each to speak on the topic ‘Right to Education.’

In the end, Inato Aye of BBA 4th Semester and Sungjemlila Longkumer of BA 2nd Semester were declared the winner and runner-up respectively and were awarded achievement certificates.

Winner Inato, in his speech, stated that the Government of India enacted the Right to Education Act on August 4, 2009 to provide free and compulsory education for children between the ages of 6 – 14 years emphasizing on free education without the payment of cash for those students whose parents cannot afford school fees.

Lauding that the Act was a success, he highlighted that as per statistics pertaining to 2016, only 3.3 % of children in the targeted age bracket were out of school in rural areas.

Acknowledging that the Right to Education is one of the most important rights, Inato pointed out that the only thing holding back the students was because they tend to view education as studying of heavy textbooks and lengthy notes and the fear of not being able to achieve good grades.

“The main purpose of education is to build your skills, potential and living in a time of technological advancement, you have access to every technology which has greatly influenced the education system. In other words, ‘learning is fun’ has taken a step ahead,” he concluded.

For Sungjemlila, she felt that although the Act was implemented ten years ago, not much has been done as there are still scores of children who are still deprived of elementary education. Recalling that it was a historic day for the nation when the Act was enforced, Sungjemlila quoted the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who in his speech stated that ‘we are committed towards ensuring free and compulsory education to all children of 6 – 14 years of age irrespective of caste, class or gender.’

The speaker however questioned the commitment saying, “Why is the government not keeping up with its commitment? Because I still see many of my brothers and sisters hungry for education but deprived of education.”
Nevertheless, she expressed optimism over the fact that the country’s literacy which has grown from just 12% at the time of its independence to 74.04% according to the 2011 Census.

“My country is growing, my country is improving. My only prayer remains that the Right to Education does not simply remain as dead letters in the book of the law or in the Constitution of India,” Sungjemlila remarked.