Following the introduction of New Education Policy (NEP), 2020, the Department of School Education is gearing up to frame a new system by prioritising foundational education, including basic literacy, numeracy and transferable skills, which were the building blocks of learning right from the grassroots level.
This was pointed out by School Education adviser Dr Kekhrie Yhome, who is also an educationist, in an exclusive interview with Nagaland Post. As of July/August 2023, Nagaland has 3,67,175 school students, with 2,34,150 students studying in private and 1,33,025 in government institutions.
There are 2,705 schools in the state, 745 of these being private and the remaining 1,960 government schools. With ENP emphasising on education in mother language, Yhome said Nagaland being a multi-linguistic state, it was a challenge to use English as a medium of teaching in rural areas as many teachers ended up teaching in their mother tongue. In urban areas with diverse tribes and languages, he acknowledged that the implementation of NEP was even a bigger challenge due to the linguistic diversity.
He mentioned that the new policy also aimed at achieving 100% digital literacy and integrating digital technology into the classrooms, which still remained a major challenge as some areas in the state still lacked internet services and electricity.
On private schools faring better than government schools in class X board exams, Yhome attributed it to few students appearing for the exam, besides the lack of enthusiasm in attracting bright students to government schools.
He said there were not enough students in some government schools, while maintaining that private schools were mostly “profit driven”. He acknowledged those primary and middle schools that were packed with students and appreciated the teachers who were sincerely discharging their duties, hoping that their sincerity would motivate others.
Sharing his experience during his visits to schools across the state, the adviser expressed serious concern that standard IX students had become the ‘bottleneck” in many government schools as they were being reportedly promoted without much screening. He urged the school authorities to be “kind and patient” towards the students.
Teachers transfer: The adviser admitted that umpteen public pressure and political decisions had interfered with the transfer of teachers.
He clarified that he did not encourage transferring “anybody anywhere” and stressed that every school deserved capable teachers, but noted that most teachers desired to stay in urban areas only or willing to work in those areas due to one issue or the other because of which there were no teachers in some schools.
He said the teachers had been time and again reminded that they had chosen the profession and therefore they should have the zeal to serve the people.
Solution to proxy teachers: On the issue of proxy teachers continuing to haunt the state and hampering education system, Yhome admitted that despite the department’s effort to eradicate proxies by engaging school management committees (SMCs) and community leaders, there were some stray cases in which village and SMC leaders encouraged proxy teaching to get shares from the salary of teachers.
He however hoped that with the introduction of the new system to monitor the attendance of teachers that was currently in trial mode in some schools and once it became fully operational with the new academic session, there would be neither interference nor duplication with the attendance of teachers.
According to him, it was based on biometrics and the data extraction system would not include any chip. And in areas with poor internet, he mentioned that the in-charge would upload the information extracted from the school in a specific area. He disclosed that the cellular operators had been contacted and areas where the internet service was poor had been identified.
Competent teachers in the system: Yhome claimed that the state’s teachers were competent enough, even though few anomalies existed in the education system. He commented that even though seniority played an important role in teaching, it had destroyed the school education system.
“We need to appreciate the efforts of dedicated teachers and motivate them,” he stressed.
Acknowledging several challenges in the state’s education system, he urged the younger generation to help improve the sector.
Similar view was shared by School Education principal director Thavaseelan K when asked about the educational system in the state. With resource constraints in terms of both physical and digital, he admitted that there was a need to bridge the gaps in learning.
Noting that fixing foundational literacy from early education would be the key towards basic education that would continue throughout one’s life, he cautioned that without a strong foundational base, a child was more likely to drop out of school early and thus be denied the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of a quality and inclusive education.
He disclosed that the Department of School Education had identified around 50 teachers, who were being investigated presently for proxy, charge sheet issued and disciplinary charges taken up, while five to six persons had been apprehended for impersonation during the ongoing biometric registration process.
Asserting that the new attendance system would end the proxy issue in the state, Thavaseelan informed this correspondent that the Education Management Information System under the World Bank would directly deduct the salary of teachers if their attendance was not marked, due to which some teachers had already tendered their resignation.