The health of Elementary School Education in Nagaland Part-1, “Zero Percent Illiteracy still a dream” the write up which appeared in a local daily on 19th of December and Part 11 under the banner “Big money, Big players, Chocked dreams” on the 20th December as an interview review with Mission Director, Mr. Abhijeet Sinha, IAS, seemed to have a very negative attitude towards the scheme and its steering bodies. Therefore, being a Field Officer in the said scheme under one of the districts in Nagaland, I would like to visualize my view points for the public reading here.
(1) The Director claimed that the amount of Rs.20 crores, which was sanctioned for 2005, disappeared without the actual works being implemented. But as a Field Officer, in the grassroot level in Mon District, I can confirm that the sanction given to this District was utilized properly through the VEC’s Accounts and nothing disappeared in vain.
• As far as Mon District is concerned, there is no monopoly over the money by the ViIlage Councils. All the developmental works here are being done directly by the VECs through community participations and never been found intervening in the matter.
• The Director may have some soft corner towards Mokokchung District. Otherwise he could have seen that in many other districts also the developmental works are being done not only with the money sanctioned by SSA but also through the contribution by the communities in general.
• From the time Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Project has been launched in Nagaland, I have not seen any casual attitude or lack of enthusiasm in implementing the works at ground levels with D.C. being the Chairman and D.E.O., the Member Secretary; all the Project Assistants are always alert in performing the duty assigned to them. Moreover, miss-utilization of funds by the VEC is out of question as the Member Secretaries, Assistant Co-ordinators, Project Assistants and Junior Engineers are on constant move to inspect the work progress in their respective areas. As far as Mon District is concerned, the photo album of all the developmental works proves it. Hence, such kind of negative comments is not at all desirable from a Director, who holds a responsible position in the project. Rather he should be enthusiastic and encourage his subordinates in letter and spirit.
(2.) As far as my district is concerned, no innovative works under SSA scheme has been allotted to any individual contractor. It is strictly being implemented directly by the concerned VEC’s through community participation, which in turn are strictly supervised and verified by the concerned field staff, Project Assistants, Coordinators and Junior Engineers etc. The anomaly may be arising in certain areas or district due to negligence of certain officers themselves, which is not the fault of the whole districts in Nagaland.
• It is a matter to regret that being a Director in the Project, how could he say that it is always the same set of people who attend seminars and awareness campaign whenever launched under the scheme. Seminars and awareness campaign programmes under SSA are conducted at various levels such as Secretary Levels to Directorate official levels, Directorate levels to District Levels, and SCERT levels to DIET levels, which jointly venture this project as the peoples’ movement, aiming its lone Education motto ‘Education For All’.
• It is neither politicians nor underground brothers intervened in the implementation of schemes under SSA. So question of ‘Choked dreams’ doesn’t arise here. It is worth mentioning here that at times, many politicians have rather extended their helping hands to implement the schemes properly in their respective areas. Same thing can be said about-the underground brothers. None of the factions till date have ever asked for their share from the scheme. Hence, ‘don’t’ in VEC getting money for the project does not arise.
• SSA itself has a scheme to distributing textbooks freely to the children of class I to IV besides Mon and Tuensang districts and Rs. 150/- per child is being sanctioned for the purpose as per norm of SSA. Hence, question of diverting money from SSA to Free Textbooks distribution as in- famous is out of question. However, the Director of School Education better can answer this aspect of the allegation.
• With the advent of SSA in Nagaland, the Govt. Primary Schools now can at least have their own development and see the sweet SSA funds. The programme “Alternative Schooling” has caused a great awareness among the public and compelled the parents to understand the value of education. There is no any complain coming from VECs and is rather happy with implementation of the schemes as funds directly flow to their accounts. Is it not a boon to the Nagas? How it is then the scheme is in a very disadvantageous position?
In short, the article that appeared in the local daily on 19 & 20 December’ 05 is very thought provoking and creating a lot of misunderstanding among the team of the-SSA and which distract the mind of the people. The DMA, Mon working classes under this scheme would like to express profound dissatisfaction over such unholy comments by any official without studying at the grass root levels. Rather they should come forward and support the mission for its utmost success for betterment of the people of Nagaland because it is a time bound scheme up to 2010 only.
Zaveyi Nyekha
District Education Officer, Mon
