Encourage students to learn their mother tongue, says Nagaland Governor

DIMAPUR— Nagaland Governor La. Ganesan on Wednesday said students should be encouraged to learn their mother tongue and develop their aptitude towards it.

Speaking at the 5th Academic Assembly organised by Janjati Shiksha Samiti, Nagaland, on the theme “Main role of teachers for the success of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020” in Dimapur, the governor said having a strong grip on one’s mother tongue helps in creating a strong foundation for learning additional languages as children are capable of learning other languages when they are young by transferring the language structure of their mother tongue to other languages.

He said that teachers and educators are greatly respected and revered since time immemorial in Indian culture, and it comes from the fact that they have the power to inspire dreams and change lives of young people they teach and associate with. “A teacher is always a role model for his or her students as we nurture, teach and raise children to become useful and responsible members of the society,” he said.

He said the NEP 2023 is considered as a watershed moment in India’s educational system, as significant changes have been made to the education policy after following the same system for 34 years.

He added that it aims at raising the standard of education in India to global level; to determine and nurture the child’s potential, increase the child’s reading and numeracy knowledge, and also improving the child’s creativity and logical thinking.

However, he said the success of any policy will depend on the institutions and teachers implementing it. He also urged the educational institutions to strive towards engaging motivated, energetic and capable faculty members in order to ensure that quality education is not compromised.

“Our traditional knowledge and good cultural practices should find its way into our academic text books. We have to keep our cultural practices alive for our culture is our identity,” he said while urging educational institution to document and preserve cultural heritage.

He also said that any initiative for development and propagation of quality education is always welcome and “the door of Raj Bhavan Kohima is always open for anyone to come and share ideas and thoughts for the uplift and progress of our society”.

As many as 10 students were given a scholarship of INR 5000 each along with certificates during the programme, which was attended by Deputy Commissioner of Dimapur Sachin Jaiswal and other officials.