Louise Shishak
Patkai
It is encouraging to see ongoing moves to improve Nagaland Education with investment such as the Lighthouse Project. However the value of the Pre-Primary and Primary years still needs to be raised, as can be seen with these school years still online, the teachers’ pay scale and limited targeted training.
To really improve, let’s invest in training teachers. How many B.Ed programs currently recognize the teaching of primary years require specific skills and knowledge and provide those years as a training focus? Mainland India also lacks training for the primary years. In the UK training is either for High school or up to class 6. If training for Primary schools is recognized as of equal value as for Higher Secondary then we will surely see better results in Education. Holistic training including physical and arts education can begin and flourish there.
Another pressing need is well designed educational textbooks and resources for these years. It is shocking how many affordable textbooks are published at this level without proper progression or learning objectives for building effective learning skills. There appears to be no accountability, and so unhelpful myths that early maths skills includes mostly handwriting, you don’t need phonics to learn english and you should learn capital letters before lower case continue to be promoted.
As we lament the high number of unqualified teachers, can the State invest in getting more accessible training that can empower these teachers to teach effectively? Invest and improve the training available for these foundation years and then surely respect for these teachers will also grow.
We need to be prepared for change in the early years and further develop critical thinking and dialogue in our Education System. Let us also support the teachers who in November will have children more than a year apart in understanding, due to struggles with online learning - back in their classrooms.
The author is a Teacher at Patkai Higher Secondary School
