Our Correspondent
Kohima | September 5
Nagaland today observed Teachers’ Day and recognized the colossal contribution of teachers. A befitting programme was held in Kohima, where state awards were conferred and warmest wishes extended to teachers from the Governor of Nagaland Gurbachan Jagat, Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio and Minister for School Education Nyeiwang Konyak.
“I would like to see the teachers of Nagaland understand the great and pivotal position that they all enjoy in society and rededicate themselves with even more vigor in their noble profession,” Nagaland governor Gurbachan Jagat said while greeting the teachers.
In his message that was read out, the governor said Teachers’ Day, which is celebrated throughout the country, is an expression of love and gratitude to teachers. It is also a recognition to their colossal contribution to the society in the supremely important field of education, Governor Jagat said.
Also, Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio said “The significance of Teachers’ Day is to give honor and respect to teachers and to also encourage them to work even harder to inspire and motivate students to develop their innate talents through joyful learning, in becoming useful and productive citizens.” Stating that the 21st century is an age of knowledge and information technology, Rio encouraged the teachers to adapt to the changing times and learn the use of new tools of technology to communicate with students.
“Children today have access to all kinds of information but productive applications can come only through proper guidance, Rio said. It is necessary to adopt new methods of teaching and this area is where teachers must play a major role,” he said.
Messages from the President of India, Prime Minister, Union minister for Human Resource Development and others were also read out at the function. Speaking at the occasion as the chief guest, minister for School Education and SCERT Nyeiwang Konyak challenged the teachers to rededicate themselves to the profession of teaching and to the promotion of quality education for positive transformation of education in the state.
A qualified teacher is central to quality education, the minister said. But he termed as unfortunate that the state is still far behind in the area of trained teachers. “Over the years we have given importance to opening of schools and providing educational facility to every community, which was and is very commendable. But the quality aspect had not been taken into account,” he said.
The minister asserted that much effort is being made to ensure that all government employed teachers must undergo the required training. “But because schools are dynamic there has to be a constant mechanism for providing the teachers training so that every teacher that comes into the system is already trained,” he said.
The minister also expressed his happiness over the improved performance of children in the HSLC and HSSLC examinations. “With introduction of the new curriculum in 2007, framed in consonance with the National Curriculum Frameworks 2005, it is heartening to see that there has been an improvement in the pass percentage at the HSLC level, which has risen from 63% during 2008 to 70 % during 2009.
Also, stating that a cash award scheme of Rs. 25, 000 for HSLC/HSLC toppers has been instituted by the governor of Nagaland earlier this year, the minister said it will be an annual feature. He also informed that a special grant-in-aid scheme for private schools has been introduced this year to extend assistance to selected schools who are ‘contributing to education in the state, in terms of enrollment and consistent high pass percentage in the HSLC exam.’
Referring to the centrally sponsored programme of Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan which has been launched with the objective of providing universal access in secondary education, the minister said one of the major feature of the programme is to increase the GER at the secondary level from the national average of 52.26 per cent to 75% by the end of 2011- 2012.
“The GER of the state stands at 31.14 % which means that we have a very major challenging ahead of us. The efforts has to be made by both the government and private schools to encourage better performance so as to ensure retention and improved transition rates, he said adding that the community and parents have also to contribute by encouraging children in their educational pursuit without dropping out.
Stating that the component of teachers award have been increased to Rs. 15,000 from this year, the minister wishes to see that the head of institutions give their personal attention to ensure that deserving teachers are identified.
“In recent times we are seeing reports in the newspapers of misconduct of teachers, particularly in the context of sexual misbehavior towards girl students,” the minister said adding ‘This is regrettable and shameful.’ He said teachers are the trusted custodians of children and reprehensive conduct must be condemned and measures must be adopted to prevent its occurrence in schools and communities.
He also urged every teacher to hold up the standard of their noble profession and encourage one another for exemplary performance of service and conduct. Urging the students to always respect and honor their teachers, he also encouraged the community and parents to partner with teachers. This partnership is to bring up children, by supporting teachers in whatever way required in shouldering “this most noble but very challenging task of teaching.”
