Aizawl, Apr 1: Mizoram is planning to build an education empire, making its sterling literacy rate the capital.
The Congress government is planning to turn the hill state into the new education hub of the Northeast, upstaging Shillong, which has so far been the learning destination, by establishing a number of institutes.
Mizoram minister for education and law Lalsawta today said over telephone from Aizawl that these new institutes would aim at drawing students from various states of the Northeast, apart from neighboring countries like Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bhutan and Nepal.
He said among a fresh crop of “classy” higher educational centres, which the Mizoram government has proposed to set up, are a National Institute of Technology (NIT) and a university in collaboration with a group of education entrepreneurs from Singapore.
At present, Mizoram only has a Central University, which has its campus in Thanril, a bustling new neighborhood of Aizawl.
Currently, the Northeast boasts of only two NITs — one in the Silcoorie area on the southern fringes of Silchar and another in Agartala.
Lalsawta said four more polytechnic colleges would also spring up in the state with central grants.
Mizoram now has two government polytechnics — one in Aizawl and another in Lunglei, the second most populous town in the state’s southern flanks, bordering Myanmar.
Regarding the new NIT in Mizoram, the education minister said its entire cost would be borne by the Centre.
Source: Sinlung
