On the occasion of Teacher’s Day on September 5, Adviser School Education Department & SCERT, Dr Kekhrielhoulie Yhome, announced that, all schools in the state will no longer conduct classes on Saturday.
He announced this while addressing a state-level Teachers’ Day programme organised by the Department of School Education at the NBCC conventional hall here on Tuesday. Dr Yhome explained that the logic behind was that teachers were most unappreciated despite giving their best. He said “teachers are not slaves” as they were made to work six days a week. He said teachers cannot be made to spend entire six days working as they also have to give time for their families. Hence, he announced that all schools, especially private schools, would no longer have regular classes on Saturdays. “Children too need time and environment that is outside the classroom for a holistic development,” he stated.
The Adviser also made another important announcement with regard to admissions to government higher secondary schools. He said in view of heavy rush, first preference for admission to government schools will be given to students from government high schools. He mentioned that a memorandum of agreement to this effect would be signed soon among the government schools.
He also disclosed that both private and government schools would follow a scheduled Sports Week, adding that district-wise to inter-district to all-Nagaland sports meet would be conducted to identity and groom talents to represent the state at the national or international levels.
He said DoSE was already in talks with the Nagaland Olympic Association, the Department of Youth Resource and Sports to pool together resources toward conducting common sports.
Encouraging schools in rural areas to start classes early, depending on the season, Yhome suggested starting classes by 6 am since morning hours were wasted due to inordinate time zone.
Noting that the menace of drug was affecting “our society and children”, he requested the school authorities and teachers to wage a war on drugs.
Further, starting next year-2024- he said it would be mandatory for all school children to have health cards, which will be introduced in collaboration with the Department of Health and Family Welfare. He said this would allow every child to get medical attention at their schools.
To bring dignity to heads of institutions, he mentioned that the nomenclature “teacher-in-charge” would be done away with for primary schools and a new designation would be notified from the next academic year.
Also, Common Teachers Training (CTT) would be notified, for which consultations with SCERT, NBSE, Samagra Shiksha, and other line departments were in the process, to prevent duplication. Meanwhile, 18 teachers were awarded on the occasion with Rs 15,000 and a certificate.
School Education and SCERT commissioner and secretary Kevileno Angami extended Teachers’ Day greetings to the teachers on the occasion. She appealed to all teachers to be role models for not only imparting knowledge, but also instilling values, ethics, critical and creative thinking, problem solving skills and encouraging children to think out of the box. She reminded the teachers that incredible feats and goals could be achieved if they were committed to making them happen.
Governor La Ganesh and chief minister Neiphieu Rio also conveyed their Teachers’ Day wishes through message to the teachers. A life sketch of Dr S Radhakrishnan was presented by Chandmari Higher Secondary School,Kohima on the occasion, where the welcome address was given by DSE principal director Thavaseelan K.
The programme was earlier blessed with invocation by Rev Fr Vemedo Kezo.
Dr Wonthungo Tsopoe, director of School education, presented the concluding remark. The programme was followed by Vidya Samiksha Kendra (VSK), a centralised management system for monitoring the real-time status of various projects/activities of DSE and its sister organisations. The main goal of VSK is to provide valuable insights and recommendations for improving the educational system and ensuring better learning outcomes for students.
School holiday today
The Department of School Education has announced holiday for all government and private schools on Wednesday (September 6) in honour of teachers.
