‘Poor foundation’ at primary level leads to meagre NBSE results for govt. schools — Advisor

Our Correspondent
Kohima, June 28 (EMN): The pass percentage of NBSE students from Nagaland government schools this year was a meagre 43.32 % as compared to 84.76% from private institutions. The poor performance of the government high schools and their challenges were the topics of discussion at a general conference of the Nagaland Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Teachers’ Association (NSSATA), in Kohima College on Friday.

The bad result is the outcome of “poor foundation” at the primary level, according to K Tokugha Sukhalu, Advisor to School Education.

‘Quality education is the need of the hour particularly in government schools. As teachers, one can give many things to the society,’ he said.

He disapproved the culture of proxy teachers and appealed to the teachers, village councils and leaders to ‘discourage’ such practices within their jurisdiction.

Sukhalu further pointed out that even though teachers are being paid, there are no students and the elementary section enrolment is “not increasing.” He urged the teachers to deliberate on ways to improve education in government schools and requested them to be patient as issues cannot always be resolved immediately.

The Principal Secretary of School Education, Menukhol John stated that it is “painful to see that the education family is fragmented.”

School Education department has always been painted in a negative way, he said. John assured that officials are trying to sincerely address issues that are brought to the table. He also added that the proper way of solving these issues is to sit together and discuss.

Wuthungo Tsopoe, director of School Education, told the teachers that they were not in the profession by accident. He said that they had chosen the profession to bring transformation to the society and urged them to be “very serious” about their profession.

The conference was also marked by a teacher’s pledge led by the president of NSSATA, Penthungo Y Yanthan. The teachers pledged to fulfil their mission and bring out the best in children, to impart quality education and set an example to students in their duties and responsibilities.