ZIRO, 1 Oct: “A healthy, balanced education, consisting of academic knowledge with moral education, is the need of the hour to blend a student to be self-reliant and be a useful citizen of tomorrow,” said Agriculture Minister and local legislator Tage Taki at the Padi Yubbe Outdoor Stadium here in Lower Subansiri district on Saturday.
Taki was addressing the valedictory function of the ‘Arunachal Pradesh Private School & Children Welfare Association (APPS&CWA), Ziro-I Unit Festival’.
The festival, which began on 12 September, witnessed students of 30 private schools of Ziro valley competing in various literary, co-curricular and sports activities.
While giving away prizes to the winners, judges and founding members of private schools, Taki said that “the maiden mega event of Ziro might turn out to be a trendsetter for other private schools of the state to follow suit, which would trigger healthy competitions among the students of the state to showcase their talents to be able to compete at higher state and national levels.”
Stressing on the importance of moral education and the need for a “joint role by parents and teachers in imparting balanced education to students,” Taki appealed to the parents to teach traditional ethos, cultures and chores to their children.
“Our 21st generation children are even forgetting to speak their own mother tongue dialects and adopting various alien cultures like Korean culture, which is a worrisome trend,” he said.
Stating that “survival instinct is the most important quality of a human being that makes one fight against all odds,” Taki said that Ziro valley has produced many eminent luminaries and personalities like IAS officers Hage Khoda, Hage Batt, Hage Kojeen, and Hage Shalla, and many technocrats and bureaucrats “who had inner belief, willpower and perseverance to succeed in life, despite coming from village backgrounds.”
Urging the private schools to “adopt tree plantations within their school campuses to increase greenery and better ambiances,” the minister assured to provide “necessary toolkits needed for the same” and also assured to provide an “RO water filter system” to all the private schools of the valley.
Commending the organisers of the festival, Disaster Management Secretary Dani Sulu sought “equal parental cooperation in building up a bright career of a student.” He also requested the organisers to “enroll participation of VKV, Don Bosco School and other government schools of the valley to also give them an opportunity to participate in such mega event.”
Pointing out that joint effort by parents and teachers is needed to “build a compassionate, resilient and a good human being,” Horticulture Secretary Koj Rinya advised the students to respect their parents, teachers and elders.
Stating that Ziro valley is slowly and surely turning into an “education hub of the state,” Lower Subansiri Deputy Commissioner Bamin Nime advised the students to “shun drugs and other intoxicating addictive substances.” He also called for making Ziro “the best destination place for boarding schools in the state, which could give good competition to famed hill stations famous for boarding schools like Mussoorie, Dehradun, Darjeeling and Kodaikanal.”
APPS&CWA general secretary Jumta Hankar, APPS&CWA Ziro-I unit president Taru Abin and general secretary Hage Lasa also spoke.
Students and teachers of 30 private schools, along with parents, attended the event. (DIPRO)
