At the outset I would like to
caution my readers that I am not going to highlight the positive aspects of ‘Education
in Nagaland’ in this article. I prefer to focus on the negative side because I consider
this an opportunity for introspection that may help to bring changes in the
minds of at least few people. As it is not possible to analyze all the aspects
of a complex issue in an article like this, I would restrict my views to few
important problems encountered by the student community.
I had my education from the
primary level to the post graduate level in Govt. / Govt. Aided average schools
and colleges situated at the southern villages of Tamilnadu. When I compare the
facilities I had in my schools and colleges before 30 years with those
available to today’s students studying in Nagaland, I would say that majority
of the students of Nagaland are underprivileged.
Nagaland is one of the
neglected North Eastern states of India that has got many disadvantages / restrictions
imposed by nature itself. To add salt to the wound, the conflicts of armed
struggle deprive the children of Nagaland from the congenital environment
necessary for the fullest development of their potentials. In spite of all the
disadvantages, the children of Nagaland adapt well to the ground reality and their
talents and skills are not inferior to that of anybody else in our country.
The psycho fear of majority of
students for the subject mathematics is well known to us. People generally may shift
the blame on the students. But, the root cause of this problem lies with the
schools. One could joyfully learn mathematics if they understand the basic concepts
well. Unfortunately, most of the schools do not have qualified mathematics teachers
and many schools even encage teachers from arts stream to teach mathematics.
Thus children do not get proper foundation in mathematics and face lot of
difficulties in understanding subjects like Physics, Chemistry etc at the
higher secondary level.
Shortage of trained qualified
teachers in subjects like Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics at the higher
secondary level is a major cause of concern for many students of Nagaland. Getting
a full time regular teacher in the above mentioned subjects now become a tough task
and many schools are at the mercy of ‘Guest Teachers’. We can easily understand
what quality education would be imparted by a teacher when he teaches in 2 -3
schools. In my opinion, the school managements should be blamed for this
crisis. Most of the teachers from private schools are underpaid and with lot of
opportunities available in other parts of the country, talented teachers do not
prefer to serve in Nagaland. If the schools pay reasonable salary and offer
facilities such as quarters, EPF, gratuity etc, I am sure that schools in
Nagaland would definitely get qualified regular teachers.
Another disturbing factor of
today’s education system is the prevailing of corrupt practices among many
teachers. Teachers are the lowest paid professionals in our society and many of
the underpaid teachers involve in unethical practices. In the materialistic
society teachers alone cannot be blamed for the menace because they too have families
to look after. Generally, the managements turn a blind eye to the wrong doings
of the teachers in this regard and make the innocent children as victims of
corrupt practices at the young age.
How many students have the
confidence of securing good marks without taking private tuitions from their
own school teachers? Of course everyone from a class may not have the same
ability and few slow learners of the overcrowded classes may need special
attention. Such children may take private tuitions from teachers of their
choice. But unfortunately, the concept of private tuitions has also been
changed radically. Teaching in today’s tuition classes are in no way different
from the regular class room teaching. Here also the 30- 40 students are accommodated
in a class and the students rarely get individual attention. The only
difference is that the teachers will solve the home works they give in schools
and the students will get a preferential treatment at the school.
The problems faced by the
students of Govt. schools are off another type. Lack of proper infrastructure
facilities is a major constraint for the students of Govt. schools throughout
the state. Most of the Govt. school teachers are well qualified but less
motivated. They also need to overcome the characteristic lazy syndrome of Govt.
servants. Dearth of quality in Primary education, transfer of teachers at the
middle of the academic year and the practice of engaging Proxy teachers are
some more shortcomings of the Govt. sector.
We could definitely overcome
the above described shortcomings by undertaking few corrective measures. First
of all, the society should become aware of their rights. Secondly, teachers
should realize that they are entrusted with the noble task of moulding the
future of children and they should be the role model to their students. Above
all the school managements should realize that they play a vital role in
shaping the future of our country and the slaves working in their schools would
never become role models to our children.
