48th Foundation Day
Patkai turns 48
Patkai Christian College (Autonomous) celebrated its 48th Foundation Day at the iconic Bundrock Chapel-cum-Auditorium on Sunday, August 28.
Patkai was established in 1974 as a liberal arts college on 1000 acres of land donated by Chümoukedima and Seithekema villages. The college is sponsored by the Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC) and Manipur Baptist Convention (MBC).
Commemorating the day, a rooster and a kilo of salt were handed over to representatives of the two donor villages, marking a customary practice of the Angami Nagas. Patkai has adopted this practice since its establishment and this deed of acknowledging the donor villages has now become a tradition.
Rev. Dr. W. Pongsing, who is also the Chairman of Patkai’s Board of Trustees, shared a sermon on the topic “New Life in Christ” and urged students to incorporate spiritualism in addition to their academic education.
On the occasion, the Founder and Principal Emeritus, Rev. Tuisem A. Shishak shared briefly about how in the late ’60s, two church bodies — one in Kohima (NBCC) and another in Imphal (MBC) — and a church in Buffalo, New York (USA), were praying for the establishment of a Christian liberal arts college. “Their prayers were answered when Patkai Christian College was established on August 28, 1974,” he said.
Rev. Shishak mentioned that Patkai started off with just 20 students and two faculty in its first year with bamboo-thatched huts as classrooms amidst the jungle. “In those days, people referred to Patkai as a jungle college,” he added.
Earlier, the Principal Emeritus also dedicated a pulpit which was donated by Rev. Judson Rungsung, former principal of the college.