A month-long School Leadership Development Programme (SLDP) for heads of Government High Schools (GHS) and Government Higher Secondary Schools (GHSS) commenced on May 2 at SIEMAT Hall, State Council of Educational Research and Training, Nagaland (SCERT), Kohima, and would conclude on May 31.
A press release by Department of School Education (DoSE) principal director and project director Nagaland Education Project – The Lighthouse (NECTAR), Thavaseelan K informed that SLDP, organised in collaboration NECTAR, was aimed to enhance capacity of the School Leadership Academy (SLA) SCERT, Nagaland.
It said the project aims to train three batches and approximately 150 head of schools by June 2023. By the end of the project period in June 2026, DoSE said the project aims to support SLA in training all the government school heads in the state.
Delivering the keynote address, Thavaseelan K, gave a brief overview of the Nagaland Education Project stating that it aimed to enhance the governance of schools across the state and improve teaching practices and learning environments.
He informed that there was a lot of ongoing works within the project including Lighthouse School Complexes and monitoring the Performance Incentive Grant (PIG) among others.
Thavaseelan said SLDP is a training programme designed by National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA) for heads of schools of central government and state/UT government and government-aided schools across the country, as well as aspiring school heads.
Underlining the need to transform ordinary schools into “centres of excellence”, he said the role of school heads needs to go beyond administrative and managerial responsibilities to proactively envision and take various initiatives for school transformation.
Delivering a welcome note, joint director and cell head, state assessment Cell, SIEMAT and SLA, SCERT Kohima, Achetla Ao said that the nature of the training was to enhance the professional skills of the school heads.
She informed that the concept was formulated in the National Centre of School Leadership Academy (NCSLA) in 2016 and Nagaland SLA was formed on January 10, 2016.
Ao said so far SLA has so far conducted two programmes on 30 days certification course for school heads, one programme on SLDP for 18 days and one 16-day SLDP for 50 school heads and two-day school leadership programme for 25 private school heads.
Stating that SLA has trained 112 school leaders in the state, Ao said there was a need to train more. She further informed that school leadership has gained a lot of importance in recent years as it was the second most important factor affecting students learning.
Pointing out that it was a big responsibility being a school head, Ao urged the heads of schools to learn and enhance their professional skills during the training.
Earlier, reader, SCERT, Kohima, Benjung Yaden, gave the introduction and an overview of the training programme, which was followed by a self-introduction of the attendees.
Leadership training for heads of school in Kohima
