Assistant Professors and delegates from Phek and Pfütsero Government Colleges during the National Assessment and Accreditation Council orientation programme at Pfütsero Government College on April 18.
Kohima, April 18 (MExN): In view of keeping pace with the rest of the country and staying in the front-line in the field of education, the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), an orientation programme was held today at Pfütsero Government College with delegates from Phek and Pfütsero Government Colleges and renowned resource speakers from various academic fields. This programme was held in consultation with the College Quality Assessment Committee (CQAC) in order to raise the standards of education through quality control measures.
A coterie of Assistant Professors attended the NAAC orientation programme at the college auditorium, which opened with a welcome address by the Principal of the College, Dr. Watijungshi Jamir. He urged that with the government making the assessment mandatory and vital, everyone have to step up and work hard to receive such honour in the field of education.
The resource speakers included Megono, Jt. Director, Higher Education, Nagaland; who gave an overall view of the “Introduction of Government Plans and Program”. Her topic highlighted areas where NAAC has been implemented and shared insights on the incentives, benefits and penalties of it.
Started in year 1994, NAAC now includes 10 Government colleges and 16 private colleges among 15 Government and 43 private colleges under its wing. Patkai Christian College and St. Joseph College, Kohima as the two colleges that has been re-credited and shown good grades from among other colleges that were accredited. She pushed the aspirant colleges to make maximum use of available resources and work hard.
Later Dr. Martina Solo, Asstt. Prof & HOD Commerce, NU, gave a talk on “Quality Education” and reiterated that the sole responsibility of teachers should be to impart quality education and thus such quality assessment become vital. Dr. RK Iralu, Principal. NCTE, Kohima & Mokokchung B. Ed College, Yimyu spoke on the “Procedure for NAAC Assessment & Accreditation” and said that it’s important to set up and attain IEQC status to assess an institutions strengths, weaknesses and work on areas that need improvement. She carefully highlighted the seven criteria of NAAC; 1) Curricular Aspects, 2) Teaching, learning & evaluation 3) Research, consultancy & Extension 4) Infrastructure & learning 5) Student Progression & support 6) Governance & Leadership 7) Innovations &best practices.
The fourth speaker, Dr. RK Behera, Dean of Social Sciences & coordinator, IQAC, Patkai Christian College Seithekema, Chumukedima elaborated on the “Preparation for Self Study Report (SSR). While sharing experiences, he encouraged the gathering to accept the challenge and work diligently in order to get NAAC accreditation. In order to achieve the highest level of excellence from NAAC, he stressed on the importance of working as a team and gave importance to certain areas where focus should be made. He stressed on introducing high-end teaching-learning aids in classrooms with IT infrastructure, having close parent-teacher relationship, upgrade learning by introducing project works and research activities, introduce mentorships/ counseling and open committees for various needs of both the college and its students.
The moderators of the session were Vetanule Demo Asst. Prof Dept. of English and Renthungo Patton, Asst. Prof, Dept of Economics. The programme concluded with vote of thanks proposed by Dr. V. Thingo, Principal, Phek Govt. College.
NAAC is a premier National Quality Assurance Agency, has the mandate to asses, and accredit institutions of higher education in India. The status of institutional accreditation in the states and union territories as on 2011 shows over 167 universities and 4529 colleges being accredited. The government of India is promulgating a law to make assessment and accreditation mandatory for all institutions through the regulation of Section 2 (f) and 12 (B) of the UGC Act 1956. Thereby, the NAAC has recommended the setting up of Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) in all accredited colleges as a post-accreditation quality measure.
