Nagaland Education department on poor performance of government schools in HSLC exam

Dimapur, June 3 (EMN): Following the demand to abolish the post of principal director of School Education by the Rising People’s Party (RPP) over the poor performance of government schools in this year’s High School Leaving Certificate (HSLC) examination, the department has issued a clarification on the decline in pass percentage and other issues.

Government schools recorded 36.62% pass percentage in the HSLC examination 2022, down from 44.86% in 2021 and the lowest in six years, while 33 schools recorded nil result.

While accepting the poor performance of government schools in the HSLC exam, the School Education department stated in a press release that the overall decrease in pass percentage in the state, including private schools due to the pandemic-related issues, as the 2022 batch suffered considerable amount of learning loss when they were in Class 9 in 2020, and then in 2021.

It also said the acute shortage of Mathematics and Science teachers could not be addressed despite the efforts made by the department to rationalise teachers, and this was one of the reasons for the decline in pass percentage. It added that issue will be addressed as notification for recruitment of 63 graduate teachers for Maths and 92 graduate teachers for Science had been issued and recruitment process will be completed soon.

No headmasters in 135 schools

The DoSE revealed that the poor performance of students from government schools is a complex issue. Informing that nearly 135 out of 251 government high schools in the state don’t have headmasters due to court cases between different groups of teachers, it said it is now “finalising the seniority of graduate teachers and promotions to the post of assistant headmasters will be carried out shortly”.

The update issued by the principal director of School Education, Shanavas C, said that the department also faces the instability in managing the posts of District Education Offices and Sub Divisional Education Offices, who play important roles in regards to inspection and supervision for the improvement of school administration.

It added that the officers who are on the verge of retirement are posted to these crucial posts due to unavailability of eligible officers with reasonable service period remaining, and this short coming isn’t solved yet.

Light House project not implemented yet

Regarding the Light House (Nagaland Enhancing Classroom Teaching and Resources) project, the department said it is a 5-year mega project introduced in 2021 and aims at bringing systematic changes from the grassroots of the education system. It said planning and analysing the present status of the system is essential before implementing the project.

It added that preparation of the position papers of the project has been completed and changes can be brought once it is implemented from the grassroots level.

“Teacher Attendance Monitoring System (TAMS), Education Management Information System (EMIS), Performance Incentive Grant (PIG) for SMC/SMDC and Creation of Light House School Complexes are some of the activities in the pipeline,” it informed, adding that details of the NECTAR project can be accessed online at www.nagalandeduproject.com and from the NECTAR office at the Directorate of School Education.

Regarding RPP’s statement that there is no point in keeping IAS officers as Principal Director of School Education, it said the matter comes under the purview of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions (Department of Personnel and Training).

“The cadre allotment was done vide the Indian Administrative Service (Fixation of Cadre Strength) Fourth Amendment Regulations, 2015 (Notification No. G.S.R. 1021(E), Dated, 30th December 2015 and the department is obliged to follow the regulations,” it stated.