50-year-old Meghalaya woman clears Class 12 exams, wants to go to college to study Khasi next
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50-year-old Meghalaya woman clears Class 12 exams, wants to go to college to study Khasi next

Snippets from the vibrant Northeast that capture politics, culture, society and more in the eight states.

   

50-year-old Lakyntiew Syiemlieh passed her Class 12 board exams Monday | Facebook | Kitbok Phankon RJ Kit

New Delhi: Lakyntiew Syiemlieh is a 50-year-old, single, working mother of four children and two grandchildren. However, none of this stopped her from chasing her dreams for a higher education 32 years after she dropped out of school.

Syiemlieh passed her Class 12 exams Monday, after she dropped out of Class 10 from the Laitumkhrah Presbyterian School in Shillong, Meghalaya, in 1988.

In 2008, she was asked by residents of her village to teach pre-schoolers for a salary of Rs 500. This was when her love for re-learning began, she was quoted as saying.

Syiemlieh joined the evening school at the National Institute of Open Learning in 2015, to retain her job at the SSA school where she taught. She cleared Class 10 in 2017.

She later became a student at the St Michael Higher Secondary School and sat for her Class 12 board exams. “I like jamming sessions! And enjoy my life with them as the senior most student,” she said.

With a love for poetry, Syiemlieh now wants to pursue a bachelor’s degree in the traditional Khasi language to “keep it alive”.


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First-of-its-kind tunnel to come up under the Brahmaputra

An in-principle approval has been given by the central government to construct a four-lane tunnel under the Brahmaputra River that will link Gohpur and Numaligarh regions in Assam.

A first of its kind tunnel to be constructed in India, it will be longer than the one being built by China below Taihu Lake in the country’s Jiangsu province.

The approval, which has come after the Galwan Valley clashes last month, will also boost connectivity between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh that shares a long border with China. The tunnel itself will also be in close proximity to the neighbouring country.

The construction of this 14.85-km-long tunnel is likely to start in December and it will have a ventilation system, footpath, fire-fighting mechanism as well as emergency exits.

The tunnel is also expected to help transport military supplies, with trucks being able to travel at speeds reaching up to 80 kmph.

Prisoner throws letter out of vehicle claiming 95% inmates Covid positive

A prisoner lodged at the Guwahati Central Jail threw a letter out of a vehicle in which he, along with other Covid-19 positive inmates, was being transported and claimed that 95 per cent inmates in the facility were infected with the virus.

The incident, which took place Monday, comes amid news of peasant leader Akhil Gogoi testing positive for the virus along with 54 others. Gogoi is also currently lodged at the Guwahati Central Jail under the stringent Unlawful Activities Protection Act (UAPA).

The letter, as reported by EastMojo, reads, “More than 95 per cent of the people inside the jail have been affected by coronavirus; however, not all of them have been tested yet.”

It adds: “Even after we tested positive, nothing has been done regarding treatment or diet for the past 40 hours…Both positive and negative patients are staying together. Two people are sleeping in a 2-ft space. More than 50 inmates have been made to sleep in a single room.”

Jail authorities have denied these allegations and said those infected were being kept in isolation wards.


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Assam MLA wades through waist-deep water to rescue people, animals 

Assam MLA Mrinal Saikia from the BJP is being praised on social media, after videos of him navigating through waist-deep flood waters to rescue people and livestock emerged.

Saikia, who represents the Khumtai assembly constituency, said in an interview how flood rescue operations have been difficult, especially with the pandemic underway.

“…it is very very difficult to maintain the (Covid-19) guidelines when you are in knee-deep water trying to rescue people,” he has been quoted as saying.

College students along with DC transform ramshackle building into library

An old and dilapidated building in Arunachal Pradesh’s Longding district has been transformed into a reading hall-cum-library by college students, under the supervision of Deputy Commissioner Cheshta Yadav.

Yadav took to Twitter and noted how the initiative, which was started amid the pandemic, has been an attempt to create a “conducive space for learning” for students who have returned to their home district from city colleges and coaching centres.


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