YARDEN JAMIR | MOKOKCHUNG | 12 APRIL
The dream of a new campus for Jubilee Memorial College (JMC) made strides today as foundation stones were laid for the Academic Block at its new campus, located in Longkhum village area.
The foundation stone for the Academic Block of JMC was laid and dedicated by Rev Ponen Longchar, Pastor, Mokokchung Town Baptist Church (MTBA) and all present at the foundation stone laying ceremony on Wednesday.
It may be recalled that, in commemoration of the platinum jubilee of the MTBA in 2012, a committee was set up a year prior to study the feasibility of starting a college in Mokokchung town. The report presented in that year itself showed enough scope for another college in the town.
According to Imtiwati Jamir, Principal of JMC, the desire of the church was to setup another college in Mokokchung town where “students can be brought up in the Christian environment” and a place where “world class education could be imparted to the students instead of going elsewhere for higher studies.” JMC was started in 2015.
Jamir said that the church envisioned how the money going outside can be saved and circulated in the town to help its economy.
The church had also envisioned to aid Mokokchung into becoming an education hub as there were already 2 colleges in the town, Peoples College and FAC, while ICIT, CTC and NU were in close proximity to the town.
Jubilee Memorial College started with 24 students and eleven teachers. As of the current academic session, the college has 245 students and 22 staff.
The College that was started in the premises of the United Christian Fellowship (UCF) in 2015 was shifted to Mission Compound in Aongza Ward, Mokokchung in the year 2019. The college campus, which is now under development, is located at Longkhum village area along the Mokokchung-Kohima road.
The new campus is being built on 190 acres of land provided by the Longkhum villagers. The campus is also served by the National Highway 02.
Initially, the campus was planned and designed by ‘URA Builders’ from Kohima but changes were made and it is now overseen by ‘Artain Enterprises’.
Many preliminaries were conducted before the construction started, Jamir said, including geological survey, geographical survey and soil testing.
“All the results were very positive so we are going forward with the construction without any hesitation,” he said.
Initially, the work started in the year 2019, but due to the lockdown during the pandemic, the work was halted. Now, in 2023, the work has begun in earnest, he said.
The current college building stands measures an area of 11000 sq ft but even the academic block in the new campus is designed at more than 20,000 sq ft. which is almost double the floor area.
Planned in three stages, the estimated cost for the first project is Rs 8.7 Cr. “The church has sanctioned that 8.7 cr without batting an eyelid,” Jamir said.
The foundation stone laying ceremony program was led by Rev Temsuwati, Associate Pastor, MTBA while short speeches were given by members of MTBA, Longkhum village council, one Mr Ihoto, GB of Izheto village and a representative from the land donors.
