Nagaland Education department strives to bring reforms in examinations

Published on May 1, 2025

DIMAPUR — Directorate of School Education (DoSE) on Thursday conducted a workshop on ‘Change management plan of exam reforms’ at the office of the Nagaland Board of School Education (NBSE) in Kohima.
An update from the department stated that the event brought together all stakeholders to evaluate and discuss the roadmap for implementing exam reforms in the state.
Speaking at the programme, Avelu Ruho, deputy director of NECTAR project, informed that landscaping for exam reforms that aims to move from rote memorisation to competency assessments as recommended by the National Education Policy 2020 was achieved through the partnership between sister departments of School Education. She thanked NBSE for the active collaboration that resulted in findings to inform the way forward.
Also speaking at the workshop, Rangumbuing Nsarangbe, NBSE secretary, stated that extensive capacity building of all stakeholders could be conducted with the support from NECTAR project. He requested the officials from the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) and the Directorate of School Education (DoSE) to discuss the steps for implementing exam reforms.

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It stated that the technical partner, Educational Initiatives, has assessed the prevailing examination practices and presented their recommendations under four crucial areas namely strengthening evaluation practices, strengthening inclusive assessments, strengthening school-based assessments and strengthening paper-setting structures.
During the workshop, participants deliberated on the roadmap for its sustainability, institutionalisation and handover of tasks and responsibilities across various Education department stakeholders.
In her closing remarks, the commissioner and secretary of School Education and SCERT, Kevileno Angami, suggested collaboration between NBSE and SCERT for exam reforms to work. She stated that for any assessment related reform to be meaningful, the reforms need to start with the curriculum design and alignment of learning outcomes designed by SCERT and NBSE.
She further informed that even the exam conducted by DoSE for the Primary School Leaving Certificate (Class 5 exams) needs to follow the same structures laid down in the paper setting structure, evaluation practices, school-based assessments and inclusive assessments adopted by NBSE and SCERT.
She added that institutionalisation of those reform measures would now depends on how the department carries it forward with NBSE and SCERT at the helm.