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"The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet" — goes an adage.
Nagaland started this week on a high note, thanks to Viku L Achumi and Imsennaro Walling who cracked the prestigious civil services examination. It was welcome news after Richard Yanthan ended the state’s 13-year UPSC drought in 2020. This time, the number of successful candidates increased and this momentum should be maintained. Such success stories will inspire young minds to excel in what they do, be it UPSC, other competitive examinations, sports, entrepreneurship or any field for that matter. It drives home the message that it takes consistent hard work, dedication, perseverance and ‘never give up’ attitude to compete at the highest level. These are some of the traits of successful people that the youths should imbibe irrespective of the professions they choose. Students who appeared in the HSLC and HSSLC examinations this year, of which the results have been declared, also should take cue from successful people and work unceasingly towards their goals. The society on its part should ensure a conducive environment for the youths to chase their dreams, and not pollute their minds with negativity.
One sector that governments, communities and individuals should consistently invest in is education. While mushrooming of good educational institutions in the state is an encouraging development, the poor performance of government schools, which ultimately leads to poor enrolment is a matter of serious concern which should be addressed without delay. The concept of free education is rendered useless when the very institutions that are supposed to nurture the future of children fail to do the same. According to the HSLC exam results declared on Tuesday, government schools recorded a pass percentage of only 36.62%, while private schools recorded 82.08%. Also, as many as 33 government schools recorded zero results. But it won’t come as a surprise to those who read local newspapers regularly as reports about rampant practice of proxy teaching and shortage of teachers hit headlines at regular intervals. Most such stories either go unnoticed or are forgotten with the flip of the page, but not its negative impact. It is also a fact that the performance of government schools in urban areas is better than those in rural areas, so too infrastructure and availability of teaching staff. This means children in rural areas who can’t afford to study in private schools could be deprived of quality education, which is vital to compete with the best, and also face the possibility of dropping out from school. Special focus should be put on ensuring quality education in remote areas. To hear more success stories, we need to invest in education and give our children the wings to fly. No child should be left behind.