Dignitaries with section of the participants of workshop on district officials & DIET on 5th CS conference and state indicators for education in Kohima on July 24. (Morung Photo)
Our Correspondent
Kohima | July 24
To strengthen education system in Nagaland, a two-day workshop for district officials and DIET on 5th Chief Secretaries Conference and state indicators for education got underway at Capital Convention Centre, Kohima under the aegis of Samagra Shiksha Nagaland on July 24.
The workshop witnessed brainstorming session on Human Capital for Viksit Bharat, Performance Grading Index, National Achievement Survey Report (PARAKH), UDICE, PM SHRI Schools, Vocational Education, Inclusive Education (CwSN), Out of School Children (OoSC), Vidhyajali and Vidya Samiksha Kendra.
Addressing the introductory session, L Jamithung Lotha, State Mission Director, Samagra Shiksha Nagaland stated that India is targeting to achieve developed nation by 2047 (Viksit Bharat). In conjunction with this target, he said that a lot of emphasizes are being put in place on education sector. Stating that Government of India has been increasing the funding on school education, he urged the district officials to devise appropriate mechanism for holistic development of the education system.
Stating that Nagaland has 82 demands for grants, he termed education department as the “most favoured department” amongst all the departments as far as the government expenditure on salary component is concerned. He said that the state government have been spending more than 26% of the total salary component on school education department. “Now, we have to think the status of our output. If your output is good, then I think there will be some changes,” he said.
Sharing educational institutions profile in Nagaland, he informed that there 2734 school in the state with 1915 government schools, 3- Ministry of Tribal Welfare, 1- Sainik, 814 private unaided and 1- Railway. The strength of teachers stands at 32, 801 and enrollment of students at 4, 10, 389.
Sharing results comparison 2025, he disclosed that private schools recorded 88% pass percentage in HSLC exam while government schools at 48%. The HSSLC result indicated 88% for private school and 78% for government school in arts stream. Science: Private- 78% and Govt- 72%. Commerce: Private- 84% and Govt- 78%.
Touching on Performance Grading Index (PGI), he said “We have made some improvement but we still need to improve.” Talking on the importance of data generation, he said “If your primary data is healthy, then the whole thing will be healthy.” In this, he requested the district officials to insist the concerned schools to come out with a clear and accurate data.
Asking the district officials to do justice to their work and take responsibility, he said “Until and unless, we do this, we are killing the next generation.” He also asked them to do their part to push the education system forward.
Stating that the state has 171 vocational education institutions at present, he said “We are planning to open another 15 next year.”
1500 teaches skipped SMILE App logins for4 months; 150 schools show zero attendance
Shashank Pratap Singh, IAS, Principal Director, Directorate of School Education said that the department continue to face challenges with the teachers’ attendance monitoring system (SMILE App) in place.
He said that around 1500 teachers have not marked their attendance even once in the last four months and more than 150 institutions have recorded zero attendance on SMILE App Stating that the department have 49 district establishments across the state, he said that 34 establishments have marked less than 50% attendance, 17 establishments marked less than 10% attendance and 10 offices marked almost zero attendance.
He urged all the district officials to take this matter seriously and ensured that daily attendance is marked without fail. Stating that the SMILE App and digital systems are meant to bring more transparency and efficiency, he called upon the district officials to uphold the same.
Further, he urged upon the district officials to be vigilant, to remain present and active in their respective districts.
On PM POSHAN Scheme, Singh said that monitoring and implementation under this scheme must remain a top priority. “Let us ensure that no child is deprived due to administrative oversight,” he said.
‘Human capital required for Developed India’
Kevileno Angami, Commissioner & Secretary for School Education said that for a “Developed India” (Viksit Bharat) to take place in 2047, all the states including the Union Territories need to be developed, “then only we can have a Viksit Bharat.” Human capital is one of the pillars for the state and the country to be developed and therein, education is one of the critical pillars for the human resource development, she said.
She also asserted that quality education is the foundation for building the human capital and “therein comes in our role as education managers, as teachers, as policy makers in the school education ecosystem.” For “Developed Nagaland,” she said “We all have a very important role to play.”
She reminded that no one should be underestimating oneself as “we have been place in this position for a purpose.”
Stating that the two day workshop will be discussing on preparation for the 5th Chief Secretaries conference, she said that the feedbacks with the inputs from the blocks, schools and districts, will form the state state-specific notes and will be submitted to the Ministry.
5th CS Conference for school education
Kelhikha Kenye, Deputy Mission Director, Samagra Shiksha Nagaland, who is also the Nodal Officer for 5th Chief Secretaries Conference for School Education made power point presentation on the sub-theme "Schooling ; Building Blocks" and requested school education officers from the districts and DIET representative to submit the Feedback Notes as per the timeline, i.e. August 5.
While speaking on the theme of the 5th CS Conference, he presented district-wise education indicators and informed the participants to identify policy gaps using their long years experience working in the field and contribute meaningfully in the crucial exercise. Kenye also urged the participants to give Feedbacks on other pillars of the 5th CS Conference sub-theme as they are related to education.
Dr Bijano Murry, Joint Mission Director Samagra Shiksha made presentation on Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2023-24 report of the Ministry of Education, Government of India which assess the overall performance of States/UTs using 73 parameters. She informed the participants that Nagaland has made improvement in the PGI as compared to 2022-23 report and urged the officers to continue to work hard in providing necessary support to schools.
Benjungdenla Yaden, Reader SCERT presented the PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan report 2024 for Nagaland. While presenting the performance of the State, she spoke on the need to create awareness of the report to teachers and provide necessary academic interventions to improve the learning outcomes of students.
James Kikon, Consultant from Vibha organization working in State NIPUN PMU Samagra Shiksha presented on the quarterly assessment of Government school students in the Foundational Stage.
The workshop participants includes; District Education Officers, SDEOs, DIET lecturers, Assistant District Coordinators DMAs, EBRC Coordinators, Assistant Programmers (MIS) and Data Entry Operators. Earlier, the introductory session was chaired by Dr. Kevizakie Rio, Joint Mission Director, Samagra Shiksha Nagaland.
The workshop will continue till July 25.
