Rüzaphema's govt school: Where neglect is routine

Atono Tsukrü Kohima, March 4: Schools play an integral role to not only imparting knowledge but in shaping and developing skills and personalities of students. ‘Quality education’ is an important issue in Nagaland but it remains the most neglected, elusive by quality and result. The government loves to talk about ‘quality education’ too wherever it goes. The irony is that the Education department remains itself controversial and mired in controversies. The plight of government schools in the state grapples with controversies and alleged scams revolving around appointments, mid-day meal schemes, deployment of teachers, unpaid salaries, poor infrastructure of schools etc. These have bogged down the Education department.The story of the sole government middle school in Rüzaphema village is no different from any other government schools in the state: myriad problems plaguing the school. 59 years have passed since its establishment in 1958. The school is yet to see any development in its quest to impart quality education to the lesser privileged in the village. The school started as primary school. It was recognised in 1969 and upgraded to middle school in 2001. The school is under the EBRC of Medziphema sub-division. With classes A to VIII, the school is facing acute shortage of teachers: it has only seven teachers. ‘The village council who has been sponsoring 2-3 teachers for 13 years has stopped sponsoring teachers this year due to some problems at its end,’ a teacher said. It was learned that the existing teachers are primary teachers although the school is now a middle school. Even worse, four out of seven are proxy teachers. Ruing the shortage of teachers for mathematics, science, Hindi and Tenyidie, a teacher said a Hindi teacher was appointed in 2013 but was transferred with her post ‘without the knowledge of the school authority and SMC, with the help of higher-ups at the department.’ Talking to Eastern Mirror, a proxy teacher, a graduate, said that the appointed teachers don’t want to stay in the village due to problems such as shortage of water, and deteriorated road conditions. Also, the school children are deprived of clean drinking water facilities. They are compelled to ask for water from nearby houses. The problems don’t end there. There are other problems: language, because of which the students are not able to catch up with other students whenever they are transferred or promoted to other schools. Six decade is more than enough for a school to develop. However, the Rüzaphema village school has not seen any improvement, neither in input nor by output. [caption id="attachment_101299" align="alignleft" width="550"] Students of the government middle school of Rüzaphema village in their classroom.[/caption] The Right to Education Act states norms and standards relating to Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTRs), buildings and infrastructure, school-working days, and teacher-working hours, among others. It also provides for rational deployment of teachers by ensuring that the specified pupil-teacher ratio is met for each school, rather than just as an average for the state, district or block. This is to ensure that there is no urban-rural imbalance in postings. Nagaland’s Minister for School Education, Yitachu has said not only once but often ‘that if the primary level is neglected, the future of the students cannot be bright and the state in general will not be able to progress.’ An educationist during the Teacher’s Day programme in Kohima had observed that ‘a teacher is someone who has decided to dedicate the rest of his or her life to make a difference in the world.’ It is a fact that students of government-run schools are mostly from lesser privileged sections who want to educate their children but cannot afford to send their children to private schools. However, with too many problems plaguing the Education department, the future of children are at ransom. The never-ending problems of absenteeism, the lax attitude of teachers ‘waiting only for their salaries to be credited,’ and closures due to unpaid salaries; proxy teachers etc are jeopardising the children’s future. In this present condition, when the students are deprived of their basic rights, the future of students in Nagaland cannot be that bright.