Our Correspondent
Kohima | February 25
Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio today said the PDA government is introducing special schemes and programmes directly aimed at benefiting the youth, especially students from schools and colleges, not just to recognize their academic performances but also to empower them for gainful careers in future.
Rio announced four new programmes directly aimed at the students and the youth, namely, the Chief Minister’s Good Governance Fellows (CMGGF), the Chief Minister’s Meritorious Students Fellowship (CMMSF), the Chief Minister’s Awards for Civil Service Aspirants (CMACSA) and the Chief Minister's Young Leadership Programme (CMYLP). The Chief Minister’s Good Governance Fellows program will address the challenge of shortage of talented personnel in Government Departments and will also help attract youth to Government Under this program. Fellows will be selected and deployed in 11 Districts as also in key Government Departments in partnership with reputed Universities and Institutions, who will train and mentor the fellows. This exercise will lay the foundations of good governance and cutting edge administration in the years to come.
The Chief Minister’s Meritorious Students Fellowship program CMMSF will extend fellowships to toppers of NBSE Class 10 examination in order to groom them to qualify for examinations like the Civil Services, llTs, llMs etc. Under this program 50 toppers will receive fellowships every month for five years. The Chief Minister’s Awards for Civil Service Aspirants is a scheme aimed at helping Naga students to qualify for IAS, IFS, lPS and other allied services by extending facilities and scholarships for coaching classes, he said.
He said students clearing UPSC preliminary examinations and those passing the main examinations will directly receive cash incentives for training, mentoring and coaching in order to clear the mains.
The Chief Minister's Young Leadership Program will be a unique programme that will bring young students under a State level leadership exchange programme that will mould leaders in various sectors. Modelled on the International Visitor Leadership Programme (IVLP), this scheme will be a life changing experience for every participant and to begin with, IVLP alumni of the United States will mentor the project, Rio said.
“Welfare of students has been amongst the top priorities of my Government,” he said adding that the government has ensured timely release of scholarships to students even when funds were not released by Government of India.
He said the government is also strengthening the higher education institutions in the State by getting all the colleges accredited by NAAC.
“My Government has released 7 Central Pay Revision for college teachers and ensured quality education across the state,” he said.
He said one key challenge that “we face in schools in Eastern Nagaland is lack of sufficient number of trained candidates who can be appointed as teachers.”
To bridge this gap, he said the Government has decided to introduce 4 years BA-B.Ed program in all Government Colleges across the State under the Integrated Teacher Education Program which has also been approved by National Council for Teacher Education.
“This will ensure that not only our graduates get jobs, but will also help address the problem of lack of trained teachers for our schools,” he said.
