Girl student uses CM Sonowal's Twitter handle to spread right message

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Assam on Friday celebrated World Children's Day in a unique way. Vandana Urang, an 18-year-old girl student from the Namroop Tea Estate in Dibrugarh district, on Friday took over the official Twitter handle of Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal to share her ideas and thoughts on reimagining education in a post-pandemic world.

Vandana managed Sonowal's Twitter handle @CMOfficeAssam for two hours from 9:00 am to 11:00 am on Friday. The teenager is a first year student of BA, with honours in Political Science, from Namrup College.

Soon after taking over the Chief Minister's twitter account, Vandana wrote, "Namaskar, my name is Vandana Urang from Namroop Tea Estate, Dibrugarh, Assam. On #WorldChildrensDay, I am taking over the CM Office twitter account to talk about my journey & share my opinions on how we can reimagine education in a post-pandemic world."

Later, in a series of tweets, Vandana, through the CM's profile, highlighted the activities of the State Education department during the current pandemic situation.

Suggesting education during early childhood years should be more engaging,Vandana said schools should use new and innovative methods to make teaching and learning an interesting experience for students.

Expressing concern over the problem of school children abusing addictive substances, Vandana Urang suggested that maintaining a sound environment in schools is essential to attract and keep students at school.

"I feel that the environment in schools plays an important role – a good environment and innovative teaching methods, along with awareness on things like the ill-effects of use of addictive substances – will encourage children to continue and complete their education," Vandana tweeted.

The COVID-19 driven nationwide lockdown announced in March this year had resulted in the closure of physical schools for a long time. "Now that schools and colleges have reopened in Assam, I hope that we focus on these issues so that no child gets left behind," Vandana said.

A video uploaded to the CM's official twitter profile, members of the 'Muskan Adolescent Girls Group', led by VandanaUrang, were seen interacting and learning. "My friends from the Muskan Adolescent Girls Group have been an important part of my journey so far. We meet up regularly to discuss topics from gender equality, importance of menstrual hygiene to opportunities which concern our future employment," the caption to the video reads.

Sarbananda Sonowal's Twitter handle has over 247,000 followers while the CM himself follows 26 handles including those of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

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