Special investigation team appointed to check menace
Eric Miachieo
Kohima | May 12
Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio today said the state government is ‘determined’ to root out appointment of bogus teachers, unqualified and absentee teachers. He termed the trend as a serious menace affecting both the finances of the state and quality of education.
Inaugurating the new building of Kohima College today, the chief minister revealed that the state government, through the School Education department, had to pay additional Rs.28 crore in salaries during the last financial year alone. This was on account of the presence of thousands of bogus and unauthorized teachers. Assuring that the government is determined to root out this evil root and branch, he said a special investigation team of the Vigilance Commission has been appointed. He has sought cooperation of all student bodies and civil society in rooting out the menace from the state.
Rio also expressed serious concern that the present system of education in the state has become rather outdated with it being designed basically to cater to the requirements of white-collared jobs in the government. He stressed on the need for reorientation of the education system. “We need education that will equip our students with the skill they need to face reality and to compete in the global market. We need education that will turn our youth into real assets for the society and not liabilities”, he said. One indication of the deficiencies in the present education system is the fact that while there is no serious unemployment among those who are not educated, there is serious unemployment among the educated, he explained.
To remove this lacuna, the government is actively pursuing the establishment of a central institute of Information Technology and communication in the state to offer job-oriented and practical courses.
The chief minister further informed that an estimated 40% or some 15,000 Naga students go outside the state seeking admissions in institutes of higher learning resulting in loss for the state in terms of time, energy and financial resources. Some Rs.200 crore is being spent annually by parents for these students, he said. “…if we can set up high quality educational institutions, it will go a long way in reversing this trend and help in retention of the huge financial resources within the state which can instead be used for the economic development of the state,” Rio opined. He also made an appeal to schools, colleges and institutions of the state to understand the ground situations and needs of the state and to re-orient their curriculum and courses to suit the local requirements.
Meanwhile, also speaking on the occasion, Urban Development and Higher Education Minister Dr. Shürhozelie Liezietsu stressed on the urgent need to give more importance to higher education institutions by way of pumping in more funds for academic and physical development. He lamented that the gross enrolment ratio of higher education in the state continues to remain very low at 15% and attributed this to the high percentage of drop-out students between the elementary and secondary stages. He blamed the deterioration at the college level, to the limited intake capacity of colleges in the easily-accessible parts of the state like Kohima and Dimapur.
