Staff Reporter
The Nagaland Government Higher Secondary School Employees Association (NGHSSEA) executives members held a one-day seminar commemorating its annual conference on Novemeber 1 at Aiko Conference hall, Aiko Greens Purana bazar, Dimapur, under the theme, “changing the Narrative.”
The event was graced by co-founder of ‘Students in conflict Transformation’ and publisher of the Morung Express, Dr. Aküm Longchari and poet, educator and cultural conservationist, Dr. Theyiesinuo Keditsu as the theme speakers.
Dr. Theyiesinuo Keditsu delivered an insightful address on the topic “Reimagining the Government School Story”, urging educators to rethink colonial legacies in education and reclaim the essence of indigenous learning.
Speaking to an audience of teachers and educationists, Dr. Keditsu acknowledged the challenges faced by government school educators and stressed that her intent was to engage in dialogue rather than prescribe solutions. “Our work as teachers goes far beyond the classroom, it is counseling, rehabilitation, and spiritual ministry,” she noted, emphasizing the emotional and social dimensions of teaching.
Addressing the growing dependence on artificial intelligence (AI) in classrooms, Dr. Keditsu likened AI to “our generation’s opium”- a tool that promises convenience but risks eroding human creativity and critical thought. She shared anecdotes highlighting how excessive reliance on AI undermines both teachers’ and students’ capacity for independent thinking.
“When teachers depend on AI to design lessons or write notes, something vital withers,” she warned. “A classroom is meant to be a living space where thought unfolds in real time.”
Urging a conscious approach to technology, Dr. Keditsu emphasized that education must remain rooted in humanity, dialogue, and the capacity for reflection. “AI may be the future, but the human spirit is still the story,” she said. “And that story cannot be reimagined by automation.”
Referring to the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, she concluded that true reform must focus on creating “liberal, holistic, and inquiry-driven schools” where both teachers and students are lifelong lear.
Speaking of the topic, “Education as a catalyst for social change,” Dr. Aküm Longchari noted that the theme, ‘Changing the narrative’ was a powerful vision that must begin with each individual. Without personal change, he emphasized that one could not hope to change the collective story.
He observed that humanity across cultures was facing unprecedented revolutions and that old stories were fading faster than new ones could emerge. He stressed that new stories were essential for humanity’s renewal and questioned why “the new” had not yet been born.
He believed that the Naga people, like others, needed stories that could inspire new ideas, behaviours, and consciousness while staying rooted in their oral traditions. To nurture such imagination, he emphasized the importance of understanding how history, geography, and politics had shaped the present. Education, he stated, played a fundamental role in enabling the birth of the new.
He argued that rethinking education required pushing boundaries and creating a shared language that connected the present to the future- a language not merely as spoken words but as a vehicle of ideas. Education, he highlighted, was not a linear process of attending institutions or obtaining degrees; it was a value-based, multi-layered process anchoring human dignity, compassion, and justice.
He pointed out that modern education often prioritized skills over truth and morality, disrupting the holistic nature of knowledge. Drawing from traditional values, he identified three foundational elements of knowledge, truth, morality, and technique comparable to the three stones of a Naga fireplace. When these were unbalanced, education lost its soul.
He also recalled UNESCO’s four pillars of learning which includes, learning to be, to know, to do, and to live together and observed that modern systems had overemphasized “learning to do,” reducing education to mere functionality. He noted that knowledge must evolve to remain relevant.
For education to serve as a pedagogy of transformation, he highlighted the need to engage critically with the taught, hidden, and missing curriculum. The hidden curriculum, he noted, silently shaped conformity, while the missing curriculum often excluded vital, critical perspectives. True transformation required confronting these gaps through honest reflection.
He connected this need for reflection to the Naga context, warning that unresolved issues, if merely managed rather than transformed, would eventually erupt. Education, he stressed, must help learners navigate differences and conflicts constructively.
He noted that rediscovering the “three stones,” the “four pillars,” and the “curriculum” within the local context was essential for education to serve as a catalyst for social change. This, he said, was a continuous process of reflection and action, fostering empathy, respect, and shared humanity.
He shared reflections gathered from teachers across various regions who viewed education as a level playing field, a means to foster equality, gender awareness, and responsible autonomy. They saw themselves as educators, role models, and community leaders capable of shaping attitudes and inspiring social transformation.
He highlighted that teachers could influence students to question injustice, value diversity, and embrace ethical living. A teacher’s classroom, he said, could become a microcosm of a just society one where dialogue, respect, and empathy thrived.
However, he cautioned that functional change alone was not enough; structural change especially in power relations was equally necessary for teachers to fulfill their transformative potential.
He ended by affirming that this was the shared task before all educators: to rise above division and nurture a citizenry that could truly create “the new
Earlier the program was chaired by NGHSSEA, president Karen Yepthomi, invocation by Samagra Shiksha, DoSE, joint mission director, Dr.Bijano Murry, welcome address by NGHSSEA, President Karen Yepthomi and special presentation by GHSS students.
Altogether a total of 120 educators attended the conference. The program was followed by presentation of report and investiture ceremony.