Dimapur, September 12 (MExN): The Salesian Province of Dimapur, comprising Arunachl Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland and Upper Assam organized the ‘Focus Group Discussion’ (FGD) programme at the Don Bosco Institute of Development and Leadership (DBIDL), Dimapur on September 10 and 11.
The FGD programme is part of the project undertaken by the Salesian Provincials Conference of South Asia (SPCSA) to elicit feedback from the four groups of stake holders – youth, parents, teachers and NGOs – on the life and activities of the Salesians with a view to streamlining and improving their services to the youth of the South Asian Region.
On September 11, student representatives from Don Bosco College (Itanagar), Don Bosco College (Golaghat-Assam), Salesian College of Higher Education, Bosco B.Ed. College and Don Bosco Hr. Sec. School (Dimapur), Don Bosco College (Kohima) and Don Bosco College (Maram-Manipur) shared their views on issues like career, education, boy-girl relationships, their attitudes towards religion, their positive as well as negative views on Salesians and Salesian works. The parent representatives also shared their perceptions and expectations from the Salesians.
In the morning session on September 11, teacher representatives deliberated and expressed their views on Salesian personnel and their activities in Dimapur Province. They also offered their suggestions as to how the Salesians ought to plan for the next 10 years. In the afternoon, five NGOs working under the direction of the Salesians shared their success stories as well as the areas where they need to improve. They expressed their views on Salesian personnel and activities and their expectations.
In four interactive sessions, Conrad Saldanha, principal adviser to the Don Bosco Centre for Learning, Kurla-Mumbai, efficiently animated the participants. Saldanha said that when the 11 Indian Salesian Provinces of Bangalore, Chennai, Dimapur, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi, Konkan, Silchar, Tiruchy, and hopefully the Vice Province of Sri Lanka meet in Guwahati on September 17 to present their reports on the FGD programmes, the report from Dimapur would certainly receive great appreciation. It would also contribute to present a fairly clear picture of the Salesian work in South Asia when Fr. Angel Fernandez Artime would visit India in 2017. This was stated in a press release issued by Jonas Kerketta, Bosco B.Ed. College, Dimapur.
