114 govt schools in Kohima to pilot new school quality framework

DIMAPUR, SEP 11 (NPN): Nagaland’s first school quality assessment pilot will cover 114 government schools in Kohima district under the School Transformation through Excellence in Learning and Leadership Assessment (STELLA) framework, launched during an induction training for school heads and monitoring officers at the Capital Convention Centre, Kohima, on September 10, 2026.
The framework is being implemented under Mission SOAR, a flagship school education reform programme of the Department of School Education in partnership with Elevate Foundation. Shikha Academy, a Mumbai-based education institute, conducted the training, familiarising school heads with the framework, its assessment process and how the resulting data can be used to identify areas for improvement.
In a press release, the Elevate Foundation informed that advisor for school education Dr. Kekhrielhoulie Yhome while launching the pilot said the assessment was not intended as a punitive exercise but to standardise school quality measurement.
“This is not a penalty to anybody. This is now the standardisation of our school systems. School standards will be measured not just through examination results, but across a much wider range of parameters that help us understand and improve the quality of our schools,” Yhome said.
STELLA framework assesses schools across multiple elements that can be mapped to the national PARAKH School Quality Assessment and Assurance Framework (SQAAF) standard. Each participating school will receive a quality score and recommendations for improvement through a central digital portal.
The Kohima pilot has two objectives: to establish baseline quality scores for the participating schools and to test the framework before its proposed rollout across the state.
The baseline scores would provide a reference point against which future progress can be measured. The pilot would also assess the readiness of school leaders, teachers, monitoring officers and district education officials to use the system, while identifying areas where additional capacity building or changes to the assessment process may be required.
While school quality assessments have been conducted in Nagaland previously, the STELLA pilot is designed to enable assessments to be repeated, compared and linked to specific improvement measures.