Govt. Schools – Best Option For Employees And Worst Option For Students!

Few months back I was privileged to attend the marriage ceremony of one of my former students whom I met after a long gap of 15 years. While inviting for the marriage she made an unusual request, “Sir, please don’t tell my husband that I studied in a Govt. school”. Even though momentarily I felt uneasy with her caution, I came in terms with the reality and fulfilled her request. A teacher being invited with such a pre condition may appear odd to you; but my students always express their thoughts frankly to me and it was with that sense of friendliness she cautioned me in advance. As the situation was not appropriate to tell her the importance of being frank with one’s life partner, I have switched over the conversation to enquiries about her higher education and profession. Even now I do not like to discuss about the personal affairs of a husband and wife here; rather I would like to focus your attention to the attitude of our society towards public institutions.

My former student described in the above incident is professionally well qualified and is serving as an officer in the Govt. of Nagaland. Why did she shy away from disclosing a fact that she had had a part of her schooling from a school that is managed by the same Govt. machinery of which she is a part now? She is not alone in this category of people! I still have contacts with many of my former students and I am saddened to say that most of their Social Network profiles have NO mention of them having had their schooling from a Govt. school. They preferred to mention the names of the private schools they attended before joining the Govt. school and the colleges they attended after passing out from the Govt. school. The poor Govt. school that catered their needs for two years at a crucial stage has now become untouchable for them!

If we go through the user profiles of Nagaland’s youth in the social networks, we could easily notice that many of the users have mentioned the names of Govt. Institutions of Higher Education from Nagaland and other states.  So, we cannot say that people have no regard for Govt. Institutions; they only have reservations about Govt. Schools. There is another important aspect to mention here. People are proudly flashing ‘Department of School Education, Govt. of Nagaland’ as their status of work in the social networks, but are shying away from admitting that they have studied in a Govt. school. It seems that Govt. schools are the best option for employees and the worst option for students.

I am not blaming people for their negative attitude towards the Govt. schools; rather I consider this like a pain in our body. We know pain itself is not a disease but an indication of presence of a disease. We must admit that the state of affairs in the Govt. schools is not so encouraging and the system needs to be revamped. Now a days the recruitment of teachers and other posts are mostly done through competitive exams and we are in a position to tap the most talented youths to the department. All we need to do is channelize their talents constructively and protect them from getting infected by the common diseases prevailing in the Govt. sector. I hope the Education department which is reigned by officers who were basically teachers would serve as a role model to the other departments and the coming generation would proudly say that they are the products of Govt. schools.

NIOS Exam Scam – The Untold Story

The recent headline ‘DNSU alleges education scam’ in the News Papers of Nagaland could have NOT horrified many in the education sector of Dimapur as the facts disclosed were a sort of open secret. It is a shame that the well organized crime has been committed by a group of people who are expected to preserve the dignity of teaching profession and safeguard the welfare of the students and the society.  May be no one dared to open the can of worms due to the fear psychosis instilled in the mindset of people. I am happy that the finally the right time has come to wipe out the evil practice from our society. I sincerely appreciate the NGO Child Line and the functionaries of DNSU for exposing the major scam that silently jeopardized the academic career of thousands of students who have been spending years of hard work in schools.

I do not like to go in to the details of many unanswered questions and the roles of officials involved in this dirty game and I am confident that our investigating agencies would definitely look in to all the aspects of the scam. But I would like to high light a very distressing factor of this whole episode to my friends. Whom do you think could have approached these gangsters for indulging in the unethical practices; the students? Never! I am sure that in majority of the cases it should have been the parents and guardians! Many parents of today’s materialistic society knowingly or unknowingly hamper the future of their own children by encouraging indulging in unethical practices. Even many educated ‘over caring’ parents find it difficult to say ‘NO’ to their children and accede to their unreasonable demands.

During my student life, I remember parents of some of my lazy classmates approaching the teachers with requests to detain their son for a year as promoting them to higher class without the required knowledge would not help them to succeed in life. But now incidents of parents approaching school authorities to make their (undeserving) children pass and issue Transfer Certificates could be witnessed everywhere. What kind of future society could we expect if we encourage our children to indulge in unethical practices instead of preparing them to face the challenges of life through honest ways? Attitudes and good morals cannot be developed in the young minds through theoretical class room teachings alone. Parents and Teachers should serve as examples to their children and that would greatly help in inculcating the virtues of honesty in our children. Let me conclude my writing by sharing an experience from my own life.

Few years’ back I went to buy some stationery with my son (7 yrs old). When we went near a shop, he suddenly pulled my hand and said, “Daddy, let us not buy from this shop”. I obeyed and asked him, why? He said, “Two months back I & Mummy purchased some materials from this shop and we had to give him a balance of two rupees as there was no change available. But we didn’t come to this area after that and now the shop keeper might feel that I have cheated him”.  I patiently explained to him, “Of course you have not cheated and the shop keeper might have also forgotten the incident. But you have not forgotten the 2 rupees and you would definitely carry the feeling of guilt for a long time”. I took him back to the shop and made him pay the two rupees and say sorry for the delay. The expression of relief in my son’s face made me happy and I am sure that he had learned a lesson for his life.