Lauding the state government for introducing the SMILE App to monitor the attendance and efficiency of teachers, the Dimapur Naga Students’ Union (DNSU) said the move reflected the government’s commitment to improving the education system by ensuring accountability among educators.
In a press release, DNSU general secretary Michael Kath and education secretary Kevin Gonmei, however, expressed concern over technical glitches in the App preventing many teachers from logging in and marking their attendance.
The union stated that if the App was to serve its intended purpose of ensuring efficiency and accountability, then such technical issues must be resolved at the earliest. DNSU urged the responsible authorities to rectify those glitches immediately so the initiative did not end up causing unnecessary difficulties for sincere teachers who wished to comply with the system. While the Smile App was a commendable initiative, DNSU maintained that an App alone cannot improve the quality of education in Nagaland unless the efficiency, dedication, and competence of teachers were thoroughly assessed and improved.
“A mere attendance-tracking system will not serve its true purpose if it becomes an easy tool for insincere teachers to manipulate and justify their inefficiencies,” DNSU stated.
In this regard, the union suggested that the government take further measures to ensure transparency, effectiveness, and genuine dedication from educators, or else the initiative could risk becoming a symbolic gesture rather than a transformative reform.
DNSU also suggested the need to implement the SMILE App across all government offices to enhance transparency and accountability in various departments. Meanwhile, DNSU also raised concerns over the shortage of qualified subject teachers in government schools, particularly in crucial subjects like Mathematics and Science. It stated that many schools still lacked competent teachers, directly affecting students’ academic performance.
It also said that absence of proper infrastructure further crippled education. DNSU said computer teachers without access to computers and carpenters without proper equipment make vocational and digital education impractical.
The union, therefore, urged the government to address the gaps in the system if it truly aimed to improve the quality of education. On the disproportionate teacher-student ratio in government schools, DNSU said some schools have only 9-15 students but were staffed with 20-30 teachers, while other schools with a large number of students struggle with an insufficient number of teachers.
The union said this imbalance significantly hampered the quality of education, leaving many students without proper guidance while some schools remained overstaffed without justification.
DNSU therefore urged the government to reassess the staffing of government schools and ensure that teachers were allocated based on student strength and actual needs.
DNSU said education cannot be improved by technology alone, saying it required structural reforms, proper resource allocation, and strict measures. Without such practical interventions, educational reforms will remain incomplete and ineffective, DNSU added.