Achumbemo Kikon with others during the observance of National Education Day in Kohima on November 11. (Morung Photo)
National Education Day marked with call for reform
Our Correspondent
Kohima | November 11
Nagaland joined the rest of the country in observing National Education Day 2026 on Wednesday under the aegis of the Nagaland Education Association (NEA) in collaboration with the Directorate of State Council of Educational Research & Training (SCERT) Nagaland, with the theme “Education for employability and social transformation.”
Addressing the gathering at SIEMAT Conference Hall here, Advisor SCERT & Food Processing Achumbemo Kikon highlighted the contributions of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, India’s first Education Minister, whose birthday on November 11 is observed as National Education Day.
Kikon recalled Azad’s initiatives in strengthening higher and technical education, including the establishment of the University Grants Commission (UGC), and his emphasis on universal primary education and girls’ education.
Reflecting on the progress of education in Nagaland since statehood in 1963, he said the state had made considerable progress in literacy.
He observed that education should go beyond securing government jobs and focus on developing individuals’ knowledge, character, practical abilities and capacity to contribute to their communities.
“Our style of teaching should be in tune with the changing time and trends of our children,” he said, adding that there is no shortcut to survival at any level and “we all have to work hard.”
Kikon also urged educated youths to take up any kind of profession without considering any job beneath their dignity.
Further, he called for collective efforts of educators, students and policymakers to improve the education system for a progressive society.
Become job-creators, not job seekers
NEA President Dr Bweyhunle Khing expressed concern over the growing problem of educated unemployment in Nagaland.
Citing survey figures, she stated that 71,034 jobseekers were registered with the State Employment Exchange, with an estimated 65 to 80% of unemployed youths being educated. She further pointed out that approximately 92% of educated unemployed in Nagaland had no skill-based training or vocational education.
Stating that job opportunities in the government sector have reached saturation point, where every qualified graduate and postgraduate cannot be accommodated, she said, “It is high time for all of us to seriously re-examine and re-visit our education policies and practices.”
Dr Khing advocated shifting from a job-seeking to a job-creating education system to tackle the growing problem of educated unemployment in Nagaland.
Maintaining that the youths possess exceptional abilities in business, handicrafts, hospitality, agriculture, poultry farming, carpentry, floriculture, digital marketing, beauty and wellness, and fashion designing, she said, “Our education system must recognize these and provide skill-based training to them.”
She stressed the need to encourage every student to acquire skill-based training and marketable skills alongside academic knowledge.
“We need to empower our students to become job-creators and not job seekers. Let us move from a job-seeking mindset to a job-creating mindset,” she said.
She also stressed the need for maximum investment in the field of education.
Maolong Imty, Joint Director, SCERT, stressed the need to recognize the changing landscape of education in the country.
He said the National Education Policy 2020 has provided a renewed vision for transforming the educational system. “Let us renew our commitment to making education more meaningful, inclusive, equitable and transforming,” Imty said.
Earlier, E Echu Konyak, Coordinator, Students’ Ministry, Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC), invoked God’s blessings. Shoiching Yanna from Little Flower Higher Secondary School, Kohima, rendered a poem recitation, while Pezet D Newme presented a special number.
