
Along Longkumer
Consulting Editor
The Opposition Congress has lambasted the poor results of government run schools announced a few days back by the Nagaland Board of Secondary Education (NBSE) and claiming that the declining standards and poor results by the government schools is as a result of the NPF led DAN govt’s random politicization of education over the past decade. While no doubt there has to be accountability of those who are at the helm of affairs nevertheless one will have to admit that it is the decades of neglect that has led to the present ills from which we are still unable to recover. It will be quite unfair to expect the School Education Department to bring about some miracle and to undo all the damage in the short term. The important thing to do for those who are running the affairs of school education in Nagaland is course correction. All that the Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) has pointed out—backdoor appointments, proxy culture, absenteeism, misappropriation of funds—these have no doubt hampered the growth of government schools. It will be a tragedy if we continue to make the same mistakes over and over again. As mentioned, a lot of funds have been made available by the Centre through schemes like SSA & RMSA to augment the quality of teachers, school infrastructure and other facilities. In fact school education gets a major share of budgetary allocation and it is disheartening that the outcome is disproportionate to the flow of funds. This trend has to be reversed. However, this will need a collective effort of all concerned.
While politicians and bureaucrats must also be held accountable, the abysmal results of students studying in government schools reflect very poorly on the teaching community. It is well known that government teachers are better paid compared to those in private run schools. Also a serious question mark arises over the sincerity of some of our teachers. The practice of appointing proxy or substitute teachers is an open secret. Many of our teachers are only interested in drawing their salary and having a secured government job. Teaching is not just any job. In fact those who want to get into the profession of teachingmust do so with a clear conscience that they have a moral obligation to society. Teachers are after all expected to be role models. This is a profession that demands honesty, sincerity and self sacrifice. Teachers should realize that theirs is a God given responsibility, a duty that cannot be taken lightly. If our teachers know this and work accordingly, things will improve a great deal.
All in all, the poor results yet again testify to the sorry state of affairs of our education system. The government should seriously ponder over whether it is making any sense in running our schools. There have been suggestions in the past (in this column) about closing down atleast the non-performing government schools. Also our recruitment policy should be such that it is able to attract capable teachers who are qualified and committed to their profession. Besides, monitoring and evaluation of schools should be carried out vigorously. Those running the affairs of the education system in the State will have to study closely the latest results and undertake an honest appraisal before acting on the areas that needs to be corrected. While it is true that government schools have a social mandate to fulfill and as such may be compelled to give emphasis on quantity and not quality education, this should not, however, be used as an excuse to under-perform. With the amount of funds and resource made available, there is no reason why government schools cannot break the bad habit of poor results and do better.
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