Civic Consciousness

            Does our education system truly liberates u, make us mature, wise, helpful, responsible, civic conscious? If our educational system fails to inculcate in us noble ideals, it is a failure. We all have a great desire to change our society, friends etc. however, we forget the basic rule i.e. changing others comes only when we change ourselves. True education makes a person ‘civic consciousness. The absence of ‘civic Consciousness’ is our basic problem in our today’s Naga society.

            We are in the 21st century which is a stage for many changes on the fast track. Change in culture, change in the food habits, change in the mode of living and of course the change in the system of education. Every part of a person’s life is struck with many changes. Surprisingly change in our approach towards society is not very visible. We are conscious of change s in the technological field but not in our civic life. We are lagging behind in an area of ‘civic consciousness. The primitive people seem to be more advanced than us. An uphill task awaits us in this area. Change is possible but it is difficult.

            If you happen to visit some of our government offices, public places, educational institutions like ours etc., you are sure to experience or witness a cultural shock. Here is where you find, ‘the problem of everybody is doing it’. The original colour of our buildings, toilets etc. are replaced by public choice colours and have become dustbins. We are educated but without civics consciousness. Many of us, though well educated, have not yet learned to practice civic life when we move out of our houses. We are bombarded with the latest technology and fashion, yet we are poor in civic consciousness. We eat sweets, chew this and that but still we have not learn how we should eat and chew. An example is the way in which we discard our waste. The level of ‘civic consciousness’ we possess is not consonant with the level of our dressing style and the level of education we achieve.

            A civilized society disapproves certain kinds of behaviour of people but it always accepts and accommodates them. Oh!!!! Acceptance does not mean approval. This is the attitude with which our Naga tradition and culture evolved. Inclusion of everyone in society is the basic characteristic of our Naga society. This inclusiveness should not be understood wrongly as inclusion of the unhealthy and scandalous behavior of people, which needs constant correction and change towards betterment.

            As college students we enjoy more rights which we never had in our school days. On the other hand we have responsibilities and more duties as matured students, which one cannot expect from a school student. Usually in Nagaland we could see garbage around the dust bin not in the bin. It is our duty to help the management to keep the campus clean. After all ‘cleanliness is next to Godliness’.