EMN
Dimapur, May 6
MKG students attending classes in
makeshift ‘schools’
After the severe windstorm that stripped Mokokchung district of houses and public institutions, students are reportedly attending school in makeshift dwellings. A large number of houses, schools, and other public buildings were damaged during the severe storm that lashed several districts of Nagaland during April 30-May 1.
The Ao Students’ Conference (Ao Kaketshir Mungdang) issued a copy of a representation addressed to the mission director of the educational program, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, seeking assistance.
The AKM stated in one good length: ‘…under Mokokchung district many school buildings were severely damage by cyclonic wind that occurred on May 1, 2016, and after the damage assessment and coordination with the concerned department of the district found out that 6 schools were affected where the roofs of the schools were blown away or damaged by the uprooted trees and electric poles due to the severe wind and destroyed most of the properties and important documents files in those schools.’
Most of the students in the affected areas are now attending classes in temporary shelters made by the community and schools authorities, the Ao students said. Immense hardships are being caused to the students and the teachers “even to the fact that in some villages the school students are attending the classes at the school veranda for the past few days.”
The authorities are requested to take measures to repair the damaged schools. “We hope and have faith that the department under your able leadership will not turn a deaf ear to this application of appeal,” the AKM stated.
No teachers, so only 4 of 59
Chessore students pass
A small town in Tuensang district has blamed the School Education department for failing to heed to repeat appeals to deploy mathematics and science teachers which they implied subsequently led to poor performance of the area’s students. During the recent High School Leaving Certificate Examinations, only four out of 59 students from Chessore town’s government high school made it.
The Chessore Area Public Forum issued a note on Friday expressing resentment at the department of School Education “over non-fulfillment of (demand for) maths and science teacher at Chessore town government high school even after repeatedly appealed through media, representation…” The organization said that the demands were left “unheard and undone without any positive steps.”
The apathy of the School Education authorities to the demand is “an act of atrocity” against the students, the forum stated. The school has been without mathematics and science teachers since 2015. This has greatly ‘offended the sentiments’ of the students, the forum stated.
The forum stated: ‘And in spite of the absence of mathematics and science teachers in the preceding year, four students managed to pass, of 59 students, with the help of private tutors during the recent HSLC exams. However, many were forsaken as the students performed poorly in the subjects especially science and mathematics due to lack of mathematics and science teachers for an entire academic year.’
The organization has asked the authorities in concern to immediately appoint teachers for said subjects. The School Education department is cautioned against depriving the students of their rights; the department must take “sensible action without further delay,” it added.
Also, the Yimchungrü Akherü Arihako (YAA), the apex students’ organization of the Yimchungrü community has asked the authorities to take note of said matter. A representation to the authorities that the YAA issued through the media on Friday said that the government high school of Chessore was one of the oldest schools in the “Yimchungrü jurisdiction.” In spite of lack of facilities, the school had been catering to the education of the people in the area.
“The school was upgraded to class- X in the year 1987, to accommodate the surge in enrolment and also to facilitate the rural poor especially those from the economic constraint (sic) background; the school being the lone high school in the entire Chessore area, (it) has been neglected considerably in deploying the required number of teachers which immensely hampers the classroom transaction subsequently..,” the YAA stated.
The consequences of neglect could be seen when the HSLC results were declared: only four students qualified out of the 59 that appeared. 18 of them were eligible to sit for the compartmental exam to be held during June 1-7, the YAA stated.
“…However to our utter dismay, the fate of those students happened because of non-deployment of science and maths teachers over a year. It is very questionable that the students’ career are stigmatized and hampered for no reason of their own,” the organization stated.
“The current academic enrolment of class-x stands at 49 (forty nine) and the school is presently functioning without science and maths teachers and it is very surprising to learn that even in the midst of half-academic session, not a single lesson is taught about maths and science subjects as the concerned department had neglected in deploying the required subject teachers.”
The YAA has demanded that the authorities pursue the matter with urgency and to take steps in deploying mathematics and science teachers at the earliest.
