AYSU Delegation to Itanagar

Photo of AYSU Delegation (Left to Right): Shokoye, Yofuna, Nomasay, Salina, Dilihey, Josawu, Sosadi, Ngwazosa, Lewadi and Gujusa

The All Yobin Students Union (AYSU) made a purposeful visit to Itanagar from 2 – 11 June 2017. The team met several key officers and leaders –Chief Minister, Chief Secretary, AAPSU President, Education Minister, BJP State President, BJP State Gen Secy, AITF General Secy and our Local Minister. The discussion with the Education Minister was published at AP Times Readers Forum.

A detailed deliberation with the Chief Minister on 8th June took place. The team forwarded for news release to the newspapers (AP Times & Eastern Sentinel) twice but did not appear. Below is the summary of the meeting with Chief Minister:

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The Yobin have a lot of unresolved issues left unattended by the government during the last four decades. With these areas that require immediate action, the executive members of the All Yobin Students Union (AYSU) called on the Chief Minister, Pema Khandu at his chamber on 8th June. The AYSU was accompanied by the local MLA cum Minister of WRD Shri Kamlung Mossang. A memorandum was submitted for the following grievances.

1. First, for restoration of the Scheduled Tribe status to the Yobins. The GoAP notified Yobin as ST by the Extra Ordinary Gazette (no. 82, vol xxii dated: 30 March 2015) but the Article 342 has been misapplied in the case of Yobins. Objection was to the misapplication of the law, NOT to the tribe. Hence, that order was cancelled on 25 January 2017 but the government did not provide any option to relief our problem. The CM assured to take up with the Central Government to make this reality at the earliest as he had done earlier. He convened a meeting on Yobin ST issue on 21 April and the matter taken to the Govt of India.

2. Second, for the Miao-Vijoynagar Road to be completed soon. Since the road completed in 1975, it was not maintained, the road therefore became almost untraceable. A PMGSY scheme provided fund with the laying of foundation stone by the then Union Rural Minister Jairam Ramesh in 2011. Unfortunately, the tender was given to contractors, instead of the demand of the public to be given to BRO. As feared, the work never progressed till today. We still have to walk four days on foot. Nothing changed during the last 6 years. The CM sympathized with our struggles in road communication. He promised a special meeting will be called on the 22 June to take this case forward.

3. Third, for the Settlers of Vijoynagar to be restricted to the land the government has allotted. The Assam Rifles Ex-Service Settlers were brought in to Vijoynagar in the 1960s. Specific plots of land were provided for them both for residence and agricultural purposes on a lease of 30 years, with tax to be paid to government. The first renewal was done in 1990 and the next due in 2020. But now the settlers are coming out of their settlement areas and encroaching our land. These illegal activities were reported to the local administration, Circle Officers. No decisions and action has been taken to safeguard the indigenous people. This problem was reported to the CM and requested that action to be taken so that the Settlers would confine and be satisfied with the land the government allotted them and not beyond and disturb the local harmony. The CM would do a study and call on a decision.

We grateful to the HCM for his kindness and willingness to look into the needs people of this border area. We look forward to see the promises fulfilled and provide us relief from current difficulties.

Cities where Yobin people go for higher education

Data collected by: Barak, 18 August 2012

This year we have 10 girls and 15 boys pursuing their bachelor and higher degrees in secular studies. In addition, there are others studying through distance education.

The highest number of our people studying is in Meghalaya; 16 of them! State of Meghalaya continues to provide educational heritage for our tribe now as in the past. God bless them.

• Nonpoh – 8 students
• Shillong – 8 students
• Bangalore – 3 students
• Itanagar – 3 students
• Margherita – 2 students
• Dibrugarh – 1 student

I also realized none of us have studied in Tinsukia for college education. That city is larger and it should be better to study than Dibrugarh, Margherita, Nongpoh, even Shillong! Of course Shillong has the advantage of better weather and presence of Christians.

We should also be sending more students to Itanagar, the state capital and building relationships with friends who will have common interest for the state for  longer time.

Education Centres In Yobin Villages

Last updated: July 20, 2012

I thank brother Jesasay and Ngwalidwe for providing data for this article.

At this time, many educational initiatives have been made available to our people by the state government. I like to group those under three categories.

ANGANWADI CENTRES

Beginning 2007, the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) provided several angawadi centres for pre-school children in our villages. These centres are equivalent to Day Care centres in urban areas. There are now seven such centres.

• Dawodi (one centre)
• Hazolo (one centre)
• Sichoto (once centre)
• Shidiku (one centre)
• Shidi (three centres)

I noticed the impact of these institutions in my last visit home. My four year old niece had been in angawadi (she calls “A-GA-WA-DI” in typical Lisu accent) for over a year. Now she has learned as much as 100 English vocabularies and almost an equal number of words in Hindi! This year when she joined class I, those initial learning provided an easy transition to her next level of education.

PRIMARY SCHOOLS

Seven schools are providing primary education.  Only 2 and 3 offer upto class four. The rest has only upto class two or even below.

NO	SCHOOL	STUDENT	TEACHER
1	Katha Lisu School	245*	–
2	Govt Primary School Hazolo	34	1
3	Govt Primary School Sidiqui	31	1
4	EGS Miphote	30	1
5	NC Public School Dawodi	25*	–
6	EGS Dawodi	1	1
7	EGS Sichoto	1	1

(Data is from NUEPA, except those marked *).

Personally, I know two schools that made a difference. One of my younger sisters joined the first batch of Katha School at Shidi. The teaching was good and that provided a good foundation. Later she studied at Kohima and she could do well even there, though with some difficulty.

The other one “EGS Miphote”. Shidi people call it “Yaesina school” after the teacher. I hear many good testimonies about that school.

UPPER PRIMARY AND SECONDARY

These two are the highest level of educational centres available for our people in Dawodi circle. Interesting to note that though Shidi is only a middle school (Upper Primary), its enrolment is much higher than the secondary school of Vijoynagar. Another thing to note: there is a huge difference between the number of teachers of these two schools.

NO	School	Students	Teachers
1	Govt Middle School Gandhigram	337	4
2	Govt Secondary School Vijoyanagar	209	13

(Data from NUEPA).

OBSERVATIONS

• Nibodi is a large village with about 50 families but it has only an angawadi centre. The reason – the government has not recognized the village yet (It is now a census village from 2011). The children of that village are deprived of basic education.
• Shidi village has the highest enrollment of students. The secondary level education should be shifted to Shidi, rather than at Dawodi.
• The private education and angawadi centres have provided good basic education, majority of educational institution provide poor education. In 1992, five boys and one girl appeared for entrance exam in Meghalaya. None could pass the test. So all had to study a class lower.

REFERENCES

Katha Schools. 2009. http://www.katha.org/site/what-we-do/education/our-schools (accessed 18 July 2012). Four Katha schools in Shidi, Ngwazakha, Hazolo and Shidiku returned 245 enrolments in 2009-10 between 3 – 6 years old.

Location of anganwadi centres in  changlang   district of Arunachal Pradesh. http://arunachalswwcd.gov.in/content/central%20plan/icds/anganwadi/Changlang.pdf (accessed 18 July 2012). Published by Department of Social Welfare, Women and Child Development, Itanagar.

NUEPA. 2011. http://www.dise.in/Downloads/School%20Directory/Arunachal/1212.pdf (accessed 18 July 2012).  School directory of Changlang district for the year 2010-11.

Yobin People Who Studied Theology

Compiled By Liahey, Data Collected By Barak (1 – 19 June 2012)

For as the waters fill the sea, the earth will be filled with an awareness of the glory of the LORD – Habakkuk 2:14

BACKGROUND

Barak did an excellent job of collecting information. Also I thank Atibosa and Avia for helping in verification.

In this count, we have counted only those who involved as “full-time” students in theology. So we have not considered those who have completed from Nongpoh and Shidi.

FINDINGS

• How many studied theology? The Yobin community has 67 people who have completed diploma, bachelor and master levels of study. Maximum number have done their bachelors (40 graduates). None have completed doctorate nor am aware anyone is aiming for doctorate at the moment.

• What are those graduates doing?  About 34 percent of the graduates are engaged in various ministries such as in church, evangelism and in teaching. And as much as 49 percent are not directly involved as “full-time” ministry. The rest are still pursuing various degrees.

• How many men and women? 58 males and 9 females completed their studies. This appears as if theology is a domain of men! Interestingly, among those 9 women, 2 have did their masters in theology.

• Where did they do their studies?Chennai continues to top the list.
  

  Places where study took place

• Where do they come from?

Education by village

• Which decade had the highest number of those who completed theological studies? The 2000 decade produced 41 people who had theological training. And it is very likely that the 2010 decade will exceed the previous decade because within the first two years of this decade, already 19 have graduated.Which village do they come from?
  

  Education according to decades

At Last:

One in every 45 Yobin people are theologically trained. This is in addition to our existing pastors, those who completed from Nongpoh and those who had training at various churches in Vijoynagar circle.

If everyone of those above are mobilized well, the spread of God’s knowledge within the Yobin community and outside communities will not be difficult.

I also like to challenge everyone who did theology: Do not send your children to theological college. Train them at home well so that they can become great servants of our God.

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[I felt its appropriate to mention how the theological education progress over the years. Below is a brief summary]

Until 1970s, our churches did not have formal theological education. The senior pastors used to organize seminars occasionally and trained the pastors that way.

That trend started to change when Ngwadu/ꓥꓪ-ꓮ-ꓓꓶ and Late Yosiyeh/ꓬꓳ-ꓢꓲ-ꓬꓯ went to Chennai to study in early 1970s. Unfortunately, they could not complete their studies and returned half way.

Another wave began when Nathaney went to Chennai to pursue his Bachelor of Theology in 1982. He then made a record as the first theological graduate from our people. He also made history in Lakeview Bible College and Seminary (then Madras College of Evangelism) as its first graduate. The decade of 1980 witnessed about 5 graduates from our people.

Around that time, we had an opening at Nongpoh to simultaneously pursue school education and Bible studies. This school level program provided a stepping stone to pursue higher studies both in secular and theological education.

From 1990s, those theological educated rose steadily. Our people got training in Chennai, Bangalore, Damoh and Kerala, to name a few.

Educated People From Yobin Community

Compiled by: Liahey, Data Collected by: Barak and Juicy, 1-5 June 2012 (Last Revised: 16 June 2012)

“Education is a liberating force, and in our age it is also a democratizing force, cutting across the barriers of class, smoothing out inequalities imposed by birth and other circumstances.” – Indira Gandhi.

People are educated in many ways. In this study, we have focused on those who did their formal education (both regular and open systems). Other streams like theological, vocational etc will follow later.

The question we asked: How many Yobin/Lisu have completed high school and above? I want to thank Barak and Juicy for collecting needed information. They did much interviews over phone and of course much recollection of memory too!

The information covers only those who are living with us today as our purpose is to show how many educated people are there in our society today.

In this study, I invite you to join the findings we had on the progress of education among the Yobin people over four decades. Let us rejoice in good progress, work together in areas that need attention.

NUMBER OF EDUCATED PERSONS IN FOUR DECADES

One hundred and forty eight have completed class 10 and above. This is about 5% of total Lisu population of about 3,000. Out of that no one has completed M. Phil or Ph.D. 

There is not huge difference in dropout rates between high school and PUC. But dramatically gap widens after class 12. Only about 40% make it to bachelor and very few to masters.

Some notable people from above are:

• Till date, brother Yusihay is the only one from our community who has almost completed his PhD program. I am positive that one day he’ll complete it.
• Chayoni and Jemapho are the pioneers to pursue nursing profession.
• Phuyosa is the first person to practice law.

RISE OF EDUCATION OVER THE DECADES

In the 1970s there was only one who completed bachelor degree. Most might know it is none other than Phusa, who led our society throughout these years. The 80s and 90s had been difficult years when our citizenship was removed, but educated people rose slowly. Because it was the time God provided us Nongpoh as a town where our people could be educated, till date.

The next decade is not as dramatic as the 2010s. The first two years of this decade outnumbered all the educated people of all time. This two years produced 97 people, though most from class 10 and 12. If this trend continues, we will see about 500 people who have completed matriculation and above, in this decade. And we may find difficult to find uneducated youth from our society in the next decade.

Perhaps, this success could be attributed to our settlement at Miao since 2000, when Yobin Camp at Miao was established. People could easily stay there without much expense. And clearly our people had invested to the education in that decade and we reap its fruit in this decade.

See further breakdown of educational levels according to the decades.

To depict the progress graphically, look at the same data in graph.

In the days to come I look forward to see the columns for Bachelor and Master rise higher. And of course I hope to see a column for M.Phil and PhD. And personally I will make sure I get included with the PhDs.

EDUCATION AND GENDER

The male educated is 98 and female 50, about 2:1 ratio.

The gender gap is not huge at matriculation, but widens in higher education. It can be noted here that there is no female who has completed master level education till date.

EDUCATION ACCORDING TO VILLAGES

Shidi being the largest village has produced highest number of educated people. But Dawodi has the highest percentage of educated people, looking at the lower Lisu population in that village. It has also the distinction of having the first MA graduate, Late Makhu.

Our people need to rise from Nibodi, Ngwazakha, Aguchi and many other smaller villages. Let us pray God will make ways for them too.

Our people need to rise from Nibodi, Ngwazakha, Aguchi and many other smaller villages. Let us pray God will make ways for them too.

Government Middle School in Shidi, a Yobin/Lisu Village

This school, though a basic one, has been instrumental in upbringing many educated people from Shidi village. I wish many of us could contribute in one way or the other to raise its education quality.

My other wish is for a university in our village. If we have one, we will never be the same. We may find difficult to find an uneducated person in our society.

I took some pictures in January 2012.

Gate of Government Middle School, Shidikha, established in 1967

Old School Building - now abandoned. Only cows live in it.

New school buildings.

Staff quarters 1

Staff quarters 2

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world – Nelson Mandela.