Nagaland Chief Secretary J Alam speaking at the Golden Jubilee grand finale programme of Don Bosco Kohima on November 20. (Morung Photo)
Our Correspondent
Kohima | November 20
Nagaland Chief Secretary J Alam today said that Nagaland has 2,706 schools out which 1,961 are government schools with 1.66 lakh students and 745 private schools with 2.78 lakh students.
“It is obvious that private schools are attracting more than 62% of the total enrolled school going children,” he said while speaking at the Golden Jubilee grand finale programme of Don Bosco Kohima.
He said that among these private schools, the schools run by faith based organizations and charities have a substantial share. “Since quality of education is a major concern, the state government is taking several important steps to improve the quality of education in government schools,” he said adding that an important intervention is the implementation of a World Bank assisted project to develop ‘Lighthouse schools’ in different clusters that will become a model for other schools to follow.
In terms of technology also, a large number of schools are being provided with e-class rooms and good quality labs to improve quality, he said.
The chief secretary said that when it comes to school education, the immense contribution of Catholic schools cannot be ignored.
He said that as per the Global Catholic Education Report 2020 by Quentin Wodon, a World Bank lead economist, 63 million students are studying in more than 2,20,000 catholic schools worldwide. As per conservative estimate, the governments which have the primary responsibility for providing school education are saving 63 billion USD annually, he said.
What is more important to note is that the quality of education in these schools is much better than many government and other private schools, Alam said.
Stating that the Don Bosco fraternity is also making an immense contribution to humanity by running more than 3,000 institutions worldwide, Alam said “And in Nagaland, six Don Bosco schools are imparting quality education to thousands of students irrespective of their caste, creed, colour, faith or religion.”
