Teachers should embrace change first, says Official of Nagaland School Education department

KOHIMA — Commissioner and Secretary of School Education and SCERT, Kevileno Angami on Friday underscored the need for teachers and educators to embrace change in learning first before teaching students.

She was addressing the workshop on ‘Social emotional wellbeing of students in Nagaland’ organised by Dream a Dream in collaboration with the School Education department, at the

Directorate of School Education conference hall, Kohima.

Highlighting the competency-based learning, experiential learning, critical thinking and other vocational skills that are part of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, Kevileno urged the teachers and educators to embrace changes in learning.

She acknowledged the Dream a Dream team for willing to assist and support the development of curriculum on the crucial social-emotional well being of students, noting that the NEP talks about integrating curriculum with various aspects.

While pointing out that children can land in troubles if they are not socially and emotionally strong, the official said there are no quick fixes for happiness or dealing with stress.

She asserted that to teach and deal with children, teachers and educators have to learn first how to deal with the stress and emotions.

Kevileno also underscored the need to have life skills, communications skills and interpersonal skills to deal with various emotions that children experience during their growing stage.

Observing that the present society is living in a complex world where things are happening very fast and new developments taking place almost every day, she said children face peer-pressure and stress from various angles.

Noting that even the adults face various emotional upheavals, she emphasised the need to come up with a curriculum to deal with such situations and also to teach children to deal with emotions.

Principal Director of School Education, Thavaseelan K said that the Central Board of School Education (CBSE) has come up with a holistic progress card in schools and the Nagaland Board of School Education (NBSE) is also developing a similar progress card customised to the needs of the state.

He stressed on the need to come up with holistic intervention which will help children and impart skills to successfully navigate their life.

The principal director also said that curriculum at school level should encompass social and emotional well-being of the child.

What study says about Nagaland students

Meanwhile, Dr. Sreehari Ravindranath, Director of Research and Impact, and Dr. Joseph Thomas R, Research Consultant at Dream a Dream, presented a study on the ‘Social and emotional well-being of students in Nagaland’ conducted in four districts — Mon, Zunheboto, Mokochung and Kohima — involving 902 students, 57 teachers and 61 parents.

According to the study, emotional well-being, personal well-being and resilience were areas where majority of students scored less, indicating an emerging concern.

Among the sub skills of social and emotional well-being, autonomy, coping with stress and emotional regulation were areas with lower scores.

According to teachers, self-awareness, social awareness and emotional management are the areas of concern that needs to be addressed.

As per the findings from interviews, teachers reported regular incidences of unresolved outbursts among students while majority of the teachers felt that students displayed low or emerging self-awareness abilities (e.g. less confidence, less awareness of strength and limitations).

Less teacher-student interaction

Also, 53.3% teachers felt that students need to improve their relationships skills with peers and teachers, within and outside the classroom.

It was also revealed that students hesitate to express doubts or engage during classroom interactions, making it challenging for teachers to assess comprehension.

Another finding from the interviews with teachers and parents was negative peer interactions leading to disciplinary concerns, including quarrels, physical spats and substance abuse.

While secondary school students lacked basic literacy and numeracy skills, resulting in poor learning outcomes, parents also said that children were struggling with subjects like maths and science.

This was attributed to language barriers and lack of proficiency in the language of instruction.

Further, the study revealed that students lack mentor figure in their lives; that they need support and motivation to study. Increasing parent investment in schools and conducting workshops can help parents build better relationships with children, it stated.

Key recommendations

The key recommendations made by the experts were: Capacity building of teachers to foster students’ social and emotional well-being; promote students’ well-being through curriculum; promote initiatives to build positive peer relations; create a safe-learning space for students; upskill teachers with facilitation and classroom management skills; and address substance abuse through life skills sessions.

The study also reccommended continuous professional development initiatives for teachers with special reference to students’ well-being and, strategies for parent engagement for children’s holistic development

Shedding light on Dream a Dream earlier in the programme, Varsha Pillai, Associate Director (Narrative Building) of Dream a Dream, said that it is an Indian non-profit organisation that works towards transforming the experience of education for the 130 million children living in poverty in the country. She said that their aim is to change the purpose of education towards the idea of thriving for every child. Since 1999, she said Dream a Dream has mainstreamed life skills as a critical approach to help children overcome adversity and learn to thrive.

Pillai also informed that organisation’s work is spread across six Indian states, reaching out to over five million children through strategic partnerships with state governments and collaborations with other non-profits and funders in India.