Our Correspondent
Kohima | June 15
The Nagaland Education Association (NEA) strongly felt that education in Nagaland has to be built on a firm ground of its own social and cultural values.
“Prior to the modern school education introduced in Nagaland, Nagas did not have any formal system of instruction. However, Nagas had their own refined system of learning. Nagaland has a storehouse of vast indigenous knowledge. We had a unique method of learning through hands-on practical experiences, practical life and oral tradition. These indigenous practices were influenced by deeply rooted Naga’s ethos of pragmatism,” said NEA President, Dr Zavise Rume while addressing a press conference here on June 14.
Talking on ‘Need of Naga traditional knowledge and indigenous education,’ in the presence of Nagaland’s State Council of Educational Research & Training (SCERT) former director Vipralhou Kesiezie at SEIMAT Building, SCERT, Kohima, Dr Rume stressed on the urgent need to bring back “this great Naga tradition” to the school system of education to produce well-rounded and productive individuals.”
He said that National Education Policy 2020 is committed to promote tribal knowledge and indigenous and traditional ways of learning and to introduce specific courses in tribal ethno-medicinal practices, forest management, traditional (organic) crop cultivation, natural farming.
The Policy also is committed to introduce a course of study on Indian Knowledge Systems for students in secondary school as an elective.
“Today, our modern 'Education system needs its own basis founded on our own culture, tradition and values practiced by our own people,” he said.
Call for promotion of Naga indigenous edu
He also felt that National Education Policies must be implemented in Nagaland with the primary objective to promote our Naga indigenous system of education.
“We must promote Naga indigenous education including indigenous sports and indigenous festivals,” he said.
Stating that Nagaland is popularly known as the “Land of ‘Festivals,’ he stressed on the need to promote “our own tribal indigenous festivals.”
A school curriculum of Naga indigenousness is the need of the hour for the children of Nagaland to learn our rich intellectual, cultural values and heritages so as to inculcate in children a strong sense of love for Naga patriotism, he said.
An indigenous Naga curriculum would celebrate the ideas of the Naga philosophers, thinkers, leaders, parents, and elders, he said.
Naga indigenous knowledge system must be sustained and promoted through active support of the societies that are traditional storehouses of the indigenous knowledge, be they villagers or tribes, social organisations and the environment in which they live. There is a need for innovative ways of preserving the erosion of Naga indigenous knowledge. It is here that education should play a very significant role.
The school curriculum must inculcate and nurture in children a sense of pride in being a Naga, a rootedness and pride in Nagaland, and its rich, diverse, ancient and modern culture and knowledge systems and traditions.
Activity-based and practical-oriented learning was the most significant method of the Naga indigenous education and we must promote this in our school education, he said.
‘Education system must respond to needs of people of Nagaland’
Dr Rume said that education system cannot flourish by merely importing or borrowing education system what is happening around the world.
“Our Education system must respond to the needs and aspirations of the people of Nagaland,” he said.
Along the line of national policies, education ‘in Nagaland needs to be deeply rooted in Naga reality and its composite culture promoted by the modern advancement of science and technology, he said.
He said that education must play multiple roles of strengthening the Naga identity intimately associated with the study of the rich Naga cultural heritages and traditional values.
He said that alternative forms of schools must be encouraged to preserve their traditions or alternative pedagogical styles.
Teachers must be grounded in Naga values, languages, knowledge, ethos, and traditions including our Naga traditions, while also being well-versed in the latest advances in education and pedagogy, he said.
‘We must improve capacity and quality of agriculture’
Stating that Nagas are agriculturists, he said “We have our own indigenous method of farming. We must improve capacity and quality of agriculture and allied disciplines in order to increase agricultural productivity through better skilled graduates and technicians, innovative research, and market based extension linked to technologies and practices.”
Dr. Rume felt that the design of agricultural education must shift towards developing professionals with the ability to understand and use our own local knowledge, traditional knowledge, and emerging technologies etc.
“Institutions offering agricultural education must benefit the local community directly to disseminate and promote sustainable methodologies,” he said.
Promotion of Naga local arts
He said that the promotion of Naga local arts and culture through education is important.
“Thus, cultural awareness and expression are important contributors both to individual as well as societal well –being,” he said.
Our Naga tribal knowledge systems, including indigenous and traditional ways of learning, should be included in various subjects of academic studies, he said.
He informed that National Education Policy 2020 calls for the preservation and promotion of languages, arts and culture to produce empowered, holistic and well-rounded individuals equipped with the 21st century deeply rooted in culture, ethos and values.
“We must inculcate in the young minds of Naga students a rootedness and pride in being Nagas and their rich diverse ancient and modern cultures, traditions and indigenous knowledge system,” he said.
All local languages in Nagaland, and their associated arts and culture should be documented, he said.
Meanwhile, he felt that teachers must be trained on art integrated pedagogy, adding that “Indigenous toys and games, folklores, poems, songs, etc. must form an integral part of the curriculum.”
Textbooks should be prepared with local contents and flavor drawn from tribal indigenous knowledge such as ethno-botanical, medicinal, ecological knowledge crop cultivation, natural farming, indigenous arts, games and sports, he said.
