The soft skills and wellbeing winter camps under the “ia ka Mynried” initiative sponsored by the East Jaintia Hills district administration through the District Mineral Foundation covered 11 campuses and impacted 1,826 students till date.
The latest certification events were held at Iongkaluh for 247 students of St Peter Secondary School, and at Byndihati for 126 students of Sacred Heart Secondary School and 315 students of Byndihati Secondary School.
Santa Mary Shylla, Sutnga-Saipung MLA, was present as the chief guest at Sacred Heart Secondary School, Byndihati.
Built around the state government’s concerns surrounding substance abuse amongst adolescents, the camps were designed to engage local youth in meaningful workshops that build essential soft skills and self-worth.
The curriculum leveraged interactive sessions, storytelling and daily habit-building practices to improve personal confidence, body language and foundational speaking skills.
Human values, self-belief and group activities around the word “Future” were a highlight of the approach.
Aptly named “ia ka Mynried” which translates from Pnar to “for a better tomorrow”, the winter camps also provided a platform for the students to showcase their talents, bolstering self-esteem and helping the participants to recognise and celebrate personal strengths.
Gracious Phawa, a Class 8 student of St Peter’s, shared her programme experience at the event in Iongkaluh. “This programme has really helped build my confidence and awareness of my physical, mental and emotional health,” Phawa said.
She also said that she learnt about the use of power stances and facial expressions to help her speak in public with clarity and confidence.
Speaking at the same event, the MLA of Sutnga-Saipung said, “The winter camps have created an impact in the district as the students have received the kind of training that can improve their lives.”
She went on to urge the students in leveraging such programmes to work towards their goals in life.
It may be mentioned that the initiative supports the state’s Drug Reduction Elimination & Action Mission to build a “Drug-free Meghalaya”.
Shivansh Awasthi, Deputy Commissioner, East Jaintia Hills, shared his hopes for the initiative, saying, “In addition to soft skills training, a key practice of this programme is to encourage talent recognition in an effort to help young people identify personal strengths and build self-worth.”
Awasthi said that this is closely aligned to the state’s DREAM mission towards providing youth with opportunities and platforms to realise their potential, rather than falling prey to substance abuse.
