Longleng board to 'adopt' govt. schools

[caption id="attachment_253616" align="aligncenter" width="500"] The district planning and development board of Longleng district, its officials pictured here, are said to have decided to adopt government primary and middle schools in the area, to keep check on school performance there.[/caption] Dimapur, June 8 (EMN): The development authorities of Longleng have decided to 'adopt' a number of government primary and middle schools in the district considering their performance and apparent lack of "quality education. The decision to 'adopt' the schools was taken during the monthly meeting of the Longleng District Planning & Development Board, on June 7 in the conference hall of the deputy commissioner's office in Longleng. The government's publicity agency, the department of Information and Public Relations (IPR), gave updates on June 8 about said meeting. The members of the board, who are officials of various departments in the district, had a lengthy discussion on an agenda submitted by Temsu Wati, additional deputy commissioner of Longleng. The agenda was stated to have been "supplemented" by the deputy commissioner and others too, the IPR explained. The board officials opined that every departmental division in Longleng district adopt government primary and middle schools to "supervise and monitor the teachers and village education committees to promote quality education at the primary level." Deputy Commissioner John Tsulise Sangtam told the members that the poor performance of students in high school leaving certificate and higher secondary school leaving certificate examinations was "due to lack of quality education at the primary level." The IPR reported: "He pointed out that the policy of communitization had negative impact on the performance of the schools and he lamented that qualified and trained teachers appointed to impart the students are not performing their duties and keeping proxy teachers with the understanding of the VECs (village education committees) in maximum schools in the primary sectors." 'Midday meal misused' The deputy commissioner spoke on the "misuse" of the midday meal scheme and other schemes meant for development of the schools "by the VECs." The administrator asked the officers to visit schools whenever they visit any village for official duties. He said adoption of schools by the officers will be beneficial not only for the schools and students alone but also for teachers and officers in concern to be active in their performance. The establishment of the district education officer at Longleng was stated to have 'enumerated the numbers' of government primary schools and government middle schools in the district. Further, the board was giving a highlight about the "pathetic condition of some schools and students at the village level," according to the IPR. The members of the board supported the agenda as 'a noble gesture to assist the schools in their own capacity and give feedbacks to the authority for improvement of the schools.' After a lengthy deliberation, the IPR added, a six-member sub-committee led by the additional deputy commissioner of Longleng as chairman was constituted to prepare guidelines for the school adoption programme. They are to submit a detailed report in the next meeting, the updates stated. The other members of the committee include subdivision officer (civil), district and subdivision education officers, block development officer for Sakshi and the child development project officer of Longleng. The school adoption programme will start after the summer break, the IPR informed.