Diphu,Assam: Karbi Anglong, the hill district in Central Assam ravaged by militancy and saddled with illiteracy, is set to witness a silent revolution in the field of education.
Credit for such a revolution — at a time when any posting in Karbi Anglong government schools and the government college in Diphu is considered as ‘punishment’ by majority of teachers — goes to a few Catholic priests for their sincerity, dedication and service-before-self approach to the cause of education.
Leaving his cozy office-cum-residence at Provincial House at Pan Bazar in Guwahati, Catholic priest and Harvard graduate Father VM Thomas braved militancy and chronic underdevelopment in the district to set up Don Bosco Junior College at Diphu three years back.
Don Bosco Junior College is now the lone college in the hill district with hostel facilities for both boys and girls in entire Karbi Anglong district offering Plus II courses in Science, Arts and Commerce streams, charging nominal fees and in many cases making it free of cost for underprivileged students.
“When the idea of setting up a college in Diphu came to my mind in 2014 and I started exploring ways to implement it, there were not many takers. The odds were stacked against us, including militancy which often distracts youths from education and lures them to earn easy money. But I was determined to set up the college. From just 24 students in 2014, the college has now nearly 400 students. Even though we are still running the college in financial loss, the increase in students’ enrollment from 24 to 400 is the biggest capital for us. We see in this the beginning of an education revolution,” Fr. Thomas told this correspondent at Diphu on Saturday.
Fr. Thomas, a renowned educationist who has to his credit the setting up of a chain of reputed educational institutions in the Northeast, is now planning to set up Don Bosco Degree College, a teachers’ training institute, skill development centres and other institutes offering vocational courses. Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) for the upcoming education schemes are being worked out by a team of experts.
“I have a dream of transforming Karbi Anglong into an education hub. This beautiful district has been catching headlines for all wrong reasons over the years. I have been facing several constraints including financial hardships and threats of different perception. But I will not rest till youths of Karbi Anglong get all education facilities within their district,” he said.
State Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma who has shown keen interest in the education projects, will soon lay the foundation stone of Don Bosco Degree College at Diphu.
According to records available with the State Education Department, Karbi Anglong has the highest number of school dropouts and constant poor performers in HSLC and HS exams. For long, militant outfits recruited cadres from among the large number of school dropouts in the district.
Even though militancy may have been contained to a large extent now, sources said the number of school dropouts in Karbi Anglong remains high despite the national policy to guarantee universal elementary education to children between 6 and 14 years of age.