Changlang district has been selected for the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration-2022 for its initiative, New Age Learning Centre (NALC), in the category of ‘innovation-district’.

Changlang/Arunachal Pradesh: On the occasion of Civil Services Day, which falls on April 21st, the Prime Minister will present the award to Changlang district for their New Age Learning Centre (NALC) program in the 'Innovation-District' category.

The NALC was established by Sunny K Singh, the current DC of Changlang, during his tenure as Additional Deputy Commissioner of Miao.

Singh was responsible for both the initiation and operation of the program.

The NALC, which is the first of its kind in the state, is a state-of-the-art, futuristic and leisure learning space enabling people of all age groups to learn and improve every aspect of their personality.

The sub-divisional library was transformed into the NALC with modern and modular designs.

The NALC now acts as a central library for all the nearby schools falling within a range of 500 meters, and library periods of these schools are held at the NALC.

The NALC is open to children and members every day, including late nights during exam periods. To operate the facility, the local NGO SEED has been engaged voluntarily.

The SEED members are responsible for conducting all activity-based learning on a voluntary basis. This mentor NGO model enables the NALC to operate independently of changes in government officers.

“The community has been involved from the beginning to ensure that the whole initiative is owned by the community."

"Many people from the community donated building materials such as wooden logs, CGI sheets, cement bags, sand, etc, during construction of the NALC. In this way, community ownership has been ensured,” stated Singh.

“The NALC provides dedicated study rooms with round-the-clock power supply. Online study materials are also available for them. Hobby training classes such as photography, reading, music, video editing, quizzing, public speaking, painting, sketching, storytelling, poetry, etc, are also regularly conducted."

"Motivational movies and other informative documentaries are also screened. Most importantly, children get to read books of their choices at the NALC,” he stated further.

Additionally, the DC noted that Oil India Limited has pledged to conduct Super 30 residential classes at the NALC under their corporate social responsibility program.

These classes are aimed at preparing students for competitive exams such as JEE and NEET.

“The partnership with OIL will help to maintain and ensure smooth running of the NALC. Also, a committee has been constituted under the chairmanship of the Miao ADC, with principals and headmasters of nearby schools as members, to review the functioning of the NALC periodically,” the DC added further.