Principal Correspondent
Kohima, July 4
Recognizing the honour and responsibility vested upon them as teacher, the government teachers in Nagaland today took a pledge to dedicate themselves to the teaching profession and practice it with conscience and dignity.
The pledge was made during the valedictory function of the two-day first ever Nagaland Government Teachers Conference organized by SCERT, School Education and NBSE at NBCC Convention Hall in Kohima today.
Over 700 teachers, representing government teachers from all the districts in the State, in unison pledged that the well-being of the students will always be their primary concern.
“I will recognize and honour the worth of every individual student and treat all students and fellow teachers with all due respect and understanding,” they pledged.
The teachers also vowed to strive to continuously to enhance and upgrade their professional capability through self-study and other capacity building programmes.They affirmed not to permit considerations of religion, nationality, race, party politics, social standing or any other factor to intervene between their duty and the students.
Most importantly, the teachers assured to be ‘a person of integrity embracing the highest values befitting the profession’ and to totally refrain themselves from being a party to the immoral proxy practice.
Meanwhile, addressing the valedictory function as the chief guest, Parliamentary Secretary for SCERT and Higher Education Deo Nukhu said teachers have a great responsibility to educate the children.
“Teaching is a noble profession which requires a lot of patience, dedication and devotion to duties,” he said adding that teachers play model roles to set good examples for children to learn and follow. Stating that the future belongs to the younger generation, he said as teachers are dealing with the young people, they are nation builders.
Pointing out that around 50% of the government teachers in the state are untrained, Nukhu said the government aims to train the teachers within the shortest possible time. In this connection, he said, apart from the existing eight DIETs, the state has two government B.Ed Colleges in Kohima and Mokokchung. He said the government is planning to have three more B.Ed colleges in Mon, Tuensang and Dimapur district while three DIETs would established in Peren, Kiphire and Longleng districts.
“We hope to achieve the target within this five-year plan period with the assistance of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India,” he said.
He also said the teaching experiences all the teachers, both trained and untrained, have gained are very important to promote education in the State.
He further called upon the teachers not to take postings at interior places as punishment rather they should consider it as a privilege to serve the under-privileged people of the State.
Chief Secretary Banuo Z. Jamir while appreciating the teachers’ sacrifices towards promoting education in the State said the teachers can either make or break the society. She urged them not to consider teaching as a job only but a vocation and perform their duties by understanding the divine calling with dedication, skill and integrity.
Concerned over the shortage of Maths and Science teachers in the State, she suggested building up students’ interest towards the subject.
Meanwhile, she also requested the government teachers to have patience and give some more time to the State government for implementation of the 6th ROP.
The two-day conference has also constituted subject teachers association in Maths, Science, English and Social Studies and decided to have such conferences regularly.
The valedictory function was chaired by Principal Director, School Education, Kesonyu Yhome while Additional Director, SCERT, Khrietuo Mezhür tendered the vote of thanks.
