‘Good government workers are fluent in office procedures’

Our Correspondent
KOHIMA ,MARCH 23

Manuals, rules and procedures of departments keep the daily administration of the government running. One could be sincere and dedicated in his work, but if he ‘lacks knowledge about the rules and procedures’ that govern office working, ‘then one will not be graded as a good staff.’ This was the core message during a training program in office procedures and regulations conducted in Kohima town for office assistants.
‘Ignorance about office procedures has brought great hardship and embarrassment to individuals and also often placed the department in difficult situations,’ an education official Amenla Tonger, an assistant director of the School Education department, said during the event.
‘A department like ours (that) caters to the service and needs of more than 26,000 plus spread all over the remote areas of the state, should always be ready to work and go the extra mile in discharging our duties,’ said Tonger.
Realizing the need to equip officers and staffs of the department with detailed government rules and procedures for prompt disposals of files and correspondences, the department of School Education organized a daylong training and interactive session for district and sub-divisional education office assistants on Thursday at the Zonal Council Hall in Kohima town.
Tonger, who presided over the programme, said that the ‘sensitization and awareness training’ on the manual of office procedures was an ‘important bible’ for all the government employees.
Attending the inaugural programme of the event as its chief guest, Neposo Theluo, an additional secretary to the Government of Nagaland, said that the government functions on procedures guided by rules and procedures, and hence, he said, no worker can afford to ignore them.
Manuals, rules and procedures, he said, ‘will be the Bible for government servants in its functioning.’ Further, Theluo said that no matter how sincere and dedicated in his work one might be, if he lacks knowledge in the rules and procedures of the office, ‘then one will not be graded as a good staff.’
Stating that the Naga people ‘simply carry their work and don’t bother to learn rules and regulations much,’ Theluo asserted that as a government servant one needs to always be ‘refreshed and updated’ with the rules, latest notifications, government circulars and other various kinds of procedures when working in the government.
Citing instances, he said that ‘many people don’t bother to take care of their service and tend to neglect service related matters or don’t bother to check their service book too.’ Hence, the official, said one should not be ignorant about these things, at the same time should know his rights, entitlements. One also needs to know the rules and procedures to carry citizens’ works in everyday functioning, he said.
Emphasizing on the importance on this kind of training programme, Theluo said trainings are imparted to government servants ‘for every service before one enters into actual working.’ He said that the participants of the event were ‘fortunate to have this opportunity to update themselves with the latest information and knowledge.’ He informed that more training programs will be organized in the near future.
The official appealed to the participants to give interest in the training, ‘learn something,’ and go back. ‘It is never too late to learn things. In our life we should continue to learn, and therefore it is not too late to learn rules and procedures too,’ Theluo said in conclusion.
The resource persons for the programme were G Khevishe Phucho, an additional secretary to the Government of Nagaland, and Dr Zavise Rume, of the SCERT. The resource persons taught the participants on various topics such as filing system, drafting and noting, soft skill approach and counselling, leaves rules, conduct and appeal rules, preparation for service confirmation, and DPC and pension rules.