The conclusive part of the Tenth National Festival of Higher Educational Institutes was concluded last month with a deep spirit of enthusiasm; witnessing participation of senior government and PFDJ officials, the Executive Director of the National Board of Higher Education and college deans, heads of the NUEYS, as well as youths from all pertinent institutes.
The event, conducted under the theme, “Equipped with Knowledge, Toiling for Development,” had been underway for more than four months with its initial activities across all national higher education institutes. Accordingly, all higher educational institutes had staged various competitions of their own, and the finalists on the conclusive phase of the event constituted triumphant contestants from the respective institutes. Sports, cultural and academic competitions, as well as exhibitions were staged across five days of the festival’s culmination.
The seminar that was conducted in Mai-Nefhi College of Science by Mr. Daniel Weldeyohannes, Head of Mining Exploration in Bisha Mining Sh. Co., focused on Eritrea’s potential of mineral resources and its impact on national development. Likewise, Mai-Nefhi College of Engineering and Technology hosted a seminar on the positive and negative impacts of mass media that was presented by Mr. Sertseyonas Negash, a member of the Ministry of Information’s Office, while Orotta College of Medicine and Health Science invited Col. Mehari Tsegai, Commander of Eritrean Police Forces, as a guest speaker for the festivals’ important seminar. Similarly, an extensive seminar on the correlation between the concept of nation and tradition was conducted by Mr. Solomon Tsegaye, a Writer and Anthropologist, in both Hamelmalo College of Agriculture, as well as Adi-Keyih College of Business and Social Science.
The conclusive episode of the event got underway in the premises of Mai-Nefhi College of Engineering and Technology. It was clear, since the opening session of the first day, that the five participating colleges were taking part after having made a great deal of preparations to tackle. For instance, the artistic works that were staged on the opening ceremony, attest to this, besides evidently demonstrating the potential thereof.
In the opening speech, Ms. Mensura Ismael, Head of the NUEYS’ Sawa Region and Higher Education Activities, pointed out that the inter-college festival, which couldn’t be conducted over the past four consecutive years, due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, is a significant opportunity where thousands of youths can take part. “The fact that this festival is being concluded during the month when we celebrated our 32nd Year of National Independence with an extraordinary spirit of fervour and triumph after putting an end to all enemy hostilities is also worth mentioning,” she added. Ms. Mensura further indicated that an event of this type is essential in terms of promoting youth’s academic excellence, civic enlightenment and sense of national harmony; in addition to their potentials in the areas of culture, sports, creativity and innovation.
The final event witnessed the staging of more than thirty types of competitions as well as active participation of around nine hundred college students and youths, while having direct participatory impact on nearly four thousand students. Mr. Yonas Araya, Chairperson of the organizing committee of the Tenth National Festival of Higher Educational Institutes, stated, “Generally speaking, we can say that more than twelve thousand youth have participated in the overall activities of this event since the beginning.”
Giving a key note address on the opening ceremony, Dr. Kahsai Negusse, Dean of Mai-Nefhi College of Engineering and Technology, said that the hosting college is in a position to nurture more than six thousand engineers in several disciplines since its establishment in 2004. Equally underlining the inter-college festival’s importance as regards promoting the potential of creativity, sense of national harmony, overall enlightenment, common vision and experience of exchange among students.
The coordinators of the festival and a number of participants said that the contestants in all areas did demonstrate an outstanding degree of passion and competitiveness. Speaking on the literary aspect of the contest, Mr. Zemenfes Haile, a writer who served as a judge to this end, said, “The participants of the contest proved great calibre, which implies that they can definitely be terrific writers in the future, provided they are trained further. I have also come across some works that are already worth printing.”
Finally, Adi-Keyih College of Business and Social Science won in the academic, cultural and sports competitions, while Mai-Nefhi College of Engineering and Technology emerged champion of this festival’s exhibition contest. On the closing ceremony, Adi-Keyih College of Business and Social Science received its award for its overall achievements from the hands of Mr. Saleh Ahmedin, Chairperson of the NUEYS, and several youths from different colleges who displayed successful creative projects were awarded too.
Medhanie Tsegai