LIFEISNOWHERE

SYNERGY FOR CHANGE IN SCHOOL             Fr Paul Lelen Haokip             Students in schools look up to the Principal, Headmistress and Teachers as role models. They either are edified or scandalized by their teachers. Expectations of children are high in this 21 st century educational environment. They want quality education coupled with conversant personality from their mentors. Good to remember what Benjamin Franklin said, “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” Teaching is involving students in the matter being taught.             To have changed often is to have grown. The ‘change’ I am writing is not about spineless personality that changes according to wind and tide. The ‘change’ I write is ‘change that can being synergy’ rather than individual effort. Synergy is the...

THE COST OF A VOTE                         Fr Paul Lelen Haokip             Shareholders trade their fortune in the share market. Tycoons trade their wealth in commerce. Writers trade their mind in books. Of course, every eligible voter in the Republic of India trade his or her future five years in one ‘single vote’. This is a costly trade, a future with vision or a future with confusion. You can’t avoid religion and politics. They may not be one but they affect each other.             After the 61 st Constitutional Amendment Act in 1988, the voter's age is reduced to 18 years from 21 (article 326 in the Indian Constitution). Perhaps this was to encourage mature judgment in voting for one’s representative and early participation in nation building. It w...