21-year old Akumjung I Pongen from Nagaland is among the five selected as Rhodes Scholars-elect for India 2022.
Kanili Kiho
Dimapur | December 16
21 year-old Akumjung I Pongen from Kohima, Nagaland is among the five recently selected as Rhodes Scholars-elect for India 2022. The results were announced on November 14 through a zoom call by the National Secretaries, where Pongen was ‘stunned’ for most of the zoom call after hearing the news.
“I kept pinching myself to see if this was real – and still do sometimes,” he told The Morung Express. Hailing from Dibuia village, Mokokchung district, Pongen, a final year philosophy student at St Stephen’s College, Delhi is the first from Nagaland to secure this prestigious award.
The Rhodes Scholarships is the oldest and perhaps the most prominent international graduate scholarship programme that enables exceptional young people from all over the world to study at the University of Oxford.
Sharing his experience on this pursuit, he said that much of the preparation was about “finding your story, how it has shaped you, and how you hope to shape what’s to come.” In that sense, it gave way to deep introspection and reflection about the things, beliefs and causes that he held dear to his heart. Preparing for the Scholarship had brought times of “great uncertainty and doubt, nervousness, and anxiety, which were tumultuous, to say the least,” he admitted. However, he went on to say that it has also been a time of great reflection, self-awareness, humility and tranquillity.
According to him, the notion of “learning” radically changes from the school level to the college level. Given how much of what students learn in school is foundational and presented to them as matters of fact, Pongen held that the things that are learnt in college in turn challenge those foundations and “instils within us a healthy scepticism to wrestle with ideas and arguments.”
Sharing his views on the formal education system in Nagaland, he saw scope for improvement in accessibility of education and to educational institutions. He said that the pandemic has also given away disparities in the system, being discriminatory to many rungs of society – to people who do not have technology and internet services, to the financially unsound families and so on.
He said, “Given the online mode, I think it calls for a re-conceptualization of what we conceive of learning and education; it highlights that learning and education is not merely the studying of prescribed textbooks but also the non-evaluative aspects that come with it such as synthesising information, analysing data, discussing arguments and ideas with peers and teachers, and learning to be considerate of the limitlessness of human imagination. There is a long way to go and much to be done, but it is a possibility that can be actualized.”
According to him, the Nagas have what it takes to make it in the international arena, while also reminding that much of the battle to be overcome is a “mental one.” He said that people from marginalized communities are often victims to “a lot of self-doubt, anxiety, and a general sense of incompetence due to various cultural factors that influence our lives.”
Given such conditions, Pongen stressed on understanding the various cultural hegemonies through education, which in one way, “can overcome such clouds of doubt.”
He urged the young Nagas “to take up space that is ours, and to assert our voice.” Along with that, he emphasized on cultivating an intellectual temper to accommodate various perspectives, which is equally important. “Only then does the task at hand make itself manifest to us: to be able to balance the two,” added Pongen.
Pongen hopes to study a BPhil in Philosophy, or an MPhil in Philosophical Theology at the University of Oxford, which he feels align well with his interests. He completed his CBSE class 12 from G Rio School, Kohima.
Apart from academics, the 21 year-old is a classically trained pianist and also plays the guitar. He enjoys singing as a chorister, likes learning languages in his free time and is currently working on German. “Apart from those, I like going on long walks to the forest – it’s a nice way to be with oneself and one’s thoughts,” he added.
Acknowledging all his family, friends, relatives, teachers and professors that have invested in him throughout his life, he said that “this award, in as much as it is mine, is theirs as well.”
Pongen’s undergraduate degree will end next year around May, and as he puts it, “If all things go well, I plan to leave for further studies around the month of September 2022.”
