GUWAHATI
Changlang in Arunachal Pradesh, India’s easternmost district, on Friday received the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration for its innovative New Age Learning Centre (NALC).
Sunny K. Singh, the district’s Deputy Commissioner who conceptualised the centre, received the award given in the category of “innovation”.
NALC is a flexible, futuristic, leisure learning space-cum-library set up in a part of the Miao subdivisional office to enable people from all age groups to learn and improve every aspect of their personality.
The space is designed according to the comfort, needs, and demands of the users. Anyone can access the facilities without any membership fee, Mr. Singh said, crediting the project to teamwork.
“Apart from government officials, NGO and community members are involved in the project. It is a proud moment for all of us,” he said.
He said that community involvement has helped NALC run sustainably. The award has motivated those involved to replicate the concept elsewhere in the district, arguably the most geographically challenged in the northeastern part of India.
Prime focus
Mr. Singh said the NALC’s focus is also on e-learning through free Wi-Fi, online training through tablets, e-reading through Kindle, etc.
“It is kept open for children and members on all days and also late at night during exams. The NGO volunteers help the library staff ensure seamless operation. So, the idle time has been significantly reduced and the usage has almost doubled,” he said.
Among the other features at the NALC are free provisioning of books, including those for competitive exams, CCTV surveillance, air conditioning and heating to enable children to learn at ease, recording of videos of all activities for future reference and providing the members first-hand feedback of their activities, promotion of peer-to-peer learning to enable cross-exchange of talent, and ideas and skills.
