KA Jacob Achumi
Former Education Secretary, Kohima College Students’ Union, Kohima
With the starts of every new scholastic year, parents of both rich and poor alike are ready to send their wards to school at the same time the tussle begins with the Government Schools for shortage of teachers on one hand and proxy teachers on the other hand. When the class starts, the Government School begins with shortage of study materials as reported in local dailies occasionally, the reason is best known to the department concern.
If we observe the present scenario of the working system of the Government teachers, they are performing more as the administrative assistant to the department rather than performing their primary duties of teaching. They are compelled to do these assigned duties leaving aside their teaching duties because all the compliances have its own dateline to be achieved. While actively performing their assigned compliances, the students are at the receiving end as their lessons have being neglected due to frequent teacher being performing other duties.
It is also observing that many Government Departments and NGOs are consuming the Students working hours by organizing many activities apart from their studies in the Schools particularly Government School. Of course some are very necessary but many activities are just to fulfill the department’s obligations rather than serving its real purposes.
Due to some reasons or others, many parents, even the best Government teacher, opt their wards to study in private school but the Education becomes Prerogative of Rich in Nagaland. The School admission fees and monthly tuition has become beyond the reach of the common man even the middle class people find hard to cop up with the increasing fees.
Apart from the School fees, many Schools introduce different dresses apart from normal school dress and extra curriculum activities which the School authorities tie up with different institutions and parents are made to get their wards into one or other activities which added to the extra financial burden to parents.
When the parents wish to send their children to extra tuition after class, it becomes another burden as teacher sets their own self style fees structure by introducing home tuition and charging very high rate of fees and set their own timing by two or three days in a week even for the lower classes. The home tuition teachers set the timing in the line with professional courses coaching classes’ style which is becoming very lucrative for the teachers but not affordable for the parents.
If this trend is continuing in Nagaland where education system in Government sector is in poor shambles, where Government is trying its best to revive in spite of many obstacles, and on the other hand Private Schools are no more affordable by common men then the slogan “Education for All” can become a distance dream to be achieved in Nagaland and if this slogan is not achieved, fostering development, social progress, and humans freedom will be lacking behind.
