An administrator of a school while addressing fellow administrators during a conference organised for them by the Nagaland Baptist Church Council stated that there are many academicians in the state but schools need to produce better human beings. It is a very clear message that encompasses all aspects of schools and teachers being ideal mentors of the society. A society small yet diverse as the Nagas requires all the more all-round development of a person during the formative years.
Though the rush for academics with breakthrough in science and technology the world was never in such unison to accept the need to have better citizens who invariably are better human beings. History has proven time and again that knowledge at the wrongs hands always is the sure formula for suffering and destruction. Even though it is subjective, it is always a combination of knowledge and humility that is required as the basic ingredients to qualify someone to have attained wisdom.
In Nagaland when competition was less, any certificate was good enough to get a government jobs. Over the last decade the scenario has changed with stiffer competitions and more job seekers with only one single major employer in the whole state. Even after one gets a job, the scrutiny from the people has only increased manifold due to the general gain in awareness by the public. In a welfare modelled state like Nagaland it not only requires qualified bureaucrats and technocrats but also good souls. A highly qualified official without empathy for the people he serves is a common cause of problems in Nagaland, sometimes leading to have communal overtones if the official happens to be from another tribe/region etc.
At a juncture when the Naga society is in a state of dilemma due to a failed system that encourages corruption, it is time for role models in the form of mentors. The impact a teacher/mentor has on a person’s life is many a times greater than even their own parents’. Not only in the schools and colleges but Nagaland at present is in need of mentors everywhere to produce better human beings.
