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AMID the din of State and National level news, features and political dramas each fighting for a space in the front pages there was a news item tucked away at the bottom of the local pages on the 8th of May 2016. It was the inauguration of a Government Primary School (GPS) and a Government Middle School at Bade village under Dhansiripar division of Dimapur district by none other than the Deputy Commissioner of the district, Kesonyu Yhome the previous day. At the inaugural function, in his address he underscored the importance of the development of mindset rather than focusing too much on infrastructural development, and that mindset can only be developed through education. A timely reminder to all the Nagas to look back at the humble beginnings of our forefathers and how they chose ideals instead of material gains.
Over the years early British administrators and the Christian churches in their history have written about the spread of Western education among the Nagas. The traditional morungs were slowly replaced by the boarding school dorms; thatch houses mostly without beds. Some had to walk for days with their rations for the year from their villages to where the Christian Mission schools were located for their higher education. It is the product of these schools that gave the Nagas the first graduates, the first doctors, the first doctorates et al.
The recent flow of money into the state through various central schemes without much accountability has changed the objectives of many. It is evident from the constant commissioning of government schools and government school buildings that are featured regularly in the newspapers without any noticeable change in the pass percentage from these schools as the May 3rd 2016 HSLC and HSSLC results indicate. On the other hand the schools that are already commissioned are in the news for absence of teachers similar to case of Chessore Government High School as reported by Eastern Mirror on May 7th. Then an array of other issues like, proxy teachers, missing text books and uniforms, mid day meals etc. are reported throughout the year in all the leading local newspapers.
It indicates that the contract works and employment generated for construction of the building, the employment after the schools are commissioned and the related services required by the schools have all taken precedence and education has been pushed down to the bottom of the list.
In this age, infrastructure of educational institutes and human resources that provide quality education will always go hand in hand but the quality of education has to be always given the higher priority for a state to progress.