Morung Express News
Dimapur | January 5
Here’s a bit of encouraging news. Nagaland tops the list in enrolment of school children in the elementary level of Class I- Class VIII (or children in the age group of 6-14), matched up to all the other states in India. A study by an NGO named Pratham based on a sample size of 15,610 villages, and covering over 7.5 lakh children, surveyed during October and November 2006, shows that in Nagaland, there has been a dramatic shift from a measly 4.4% in private schools in 2005 to 52.4% in 2006 and it has coincided with its 15-fold rise in enrollment figures.
As with the rest of the country, more and more students are now joining private schools. Present figures with the All Nagaland Private Schools’ Association (ANPSA) show that 75% of students in schools are from Classes VII-X. The association has a grievance with the state policy. ANPSA Advisor, Apfilie, expressed discontentment by saying that out of the total school budget, less than 1% is allocated to private schools. “The government is not extending any help,” he said.
A peek on the performance of Naga students who study outside reveals that they rarely make it above the average. V Raju, a representative of the Swami Vivekananda Group of Colleges located at Kerala, says Naga students are more or less “carefree.”
Raju, presently in Nagaland, also finds the extracurricular activities of Naga children a trite too “extra.” However, he is quick to add that, in his college, they are prompt in attending Church services.
