Our Correspondent
KOHIMA, FEBRUARY 11
Nagaland has 41 GHSS, 253 GHS including RMSA upgraded HS, 630 GMS and 1149 GPS, but no one is sure about the exact number of GMS and GPS in the state, and exact number of student enrolments in the schools’. This was revealed during the state level conference on ‘Rationalization of government schools in Nagaland’ today at NBCC Convention Hall, Kohima.
The Education department has been embroiled in many controversies and in the news frequently for all the wrong reasons for a long time. However, in an effort to bring about a positive change in the department, the officers from all over the state came together to rationalize and improve the working of government schools in the State.
Minister School Education and SCERT, Yitachu came up with the concept of rationalization of government schools and redeployment of teachers who also carried out the exercises personally for several months since November 2015 last.
The two important features and broad decisions taken during the rationalization exercises are clubbing of 2-3 schools into a composite schools and redeployment of teachers from schools where there is no enrolment to other nearby schools and redeployment of excess teachers within the same area or district.
Addressing the participants, Yitachu said ‘a single student is very important’ and that teachers need to take their work seriously and impart quality education. Citing problems in the department including many pending court cases, the minister said, time has come for all to come together to solve the problems.
Also noting the random opening of schools in the State, Yitachu asserted that opening of any school should be based on the basic principle of giving education to the children, and not to give employment to any people.
He pointed out important measures that SSA and RMSA need to follow when implementing any scheme, discrepancies practiced by some officers while forwarding recruitment to the directorate and lack of proper filing processing in the directorate as well as in the districts and sub-division levels. The minister also spoke on the excessive intake on admission and charging of excessive admission fees by some schools, to which he said amounts to a crime and illegal. He urged them to desist from such practices, and not to deny any child of right to education.
He also explained in details about the rationalization process being undertaken by him, and asserted that past mistakes should not be repeated, but corrective measures need to be taken up.
Delivering the keynote address, FP Solo, Commissioner and Secretary said, among government departments, education is a very important department as it deals with human resource development of the children in the state.
However, he noted with concern the discrepancies on the exact figures of employees in the department and students enrolment in the schools. “There is a discrepancy of more than 40,000 students enrolment in government schools. Perhaps we tend to inflate enrolment figures in our schools to get more benefits under MDM, free uniforms and free textbooks”.
He also noted with concern about the report on the national media that dropouts in Nagaland is higher than the national average, to which, he said is very alarming, and therefore need to think hard, ascertain the cause and take immediate measures to reverse the trend.
About the poor image of the department in the eyes of public due to negative publicity, Solo asserted the department need to come out of this mess and do something by paying more attention to the interest and welfare of the students.
Appreciating the Education Minister, Yitachu for his clear vision to bring about changes in the department, Solo said this is the best time and opportunity for the department to come out of the mess.
During the discussion hour, in the presence of the Minister, the officials of the department and the participants discussed in depth the highlights, findings, results and outcome of the rationalization exercises carried out.
The Commissioner and Secretary also highlighted on the random opening of schools under state, SSA and RMSA schemes, wherein there are schools in places where there is habitation but no enrolment while several schools exists within close proximity. He also said, there are some schools with high enrolment but less teachers, while in others there are schools with very less enrolment but with plenty of teachers.
He invited views and suggestions on the proposed rationalization of schools and redeployment of teachers, where at the end if the facts and figures are found in order and there is broad agreement, he said, the department will come out with complete list of different categories of government schools and number of different categories of teachers available in each school.
Earlier, Senthang, Director of School Education pronounced the welcome address while the vote of thanks was proposed by Pollem Tep, Additional Director, School Education.
