Putting together all the factors that help distinguish the superior performance of private run schools as compared to government schools may not be a plausible exercise at this juncture. However, to generalize, the role of management may at the end turn out to be one of the most crucial aspect in improving school performance or otherwise. Government schools obviously cannot churn out good performances from the students because of the poor level of management and the failure to motivate the school system into applying the best management practices. Those running the affairs of the education system in the State will have to study closely the latest results and undertake an honest appraisal before acting on the areas that needs to be corrected. While it is true that government schools have a social mandate to fulfill and as such may be compelled to give emphasis on quantity and not quality education, this should not, however, be used as an excuse to under-perform. With the amount of funds and resource made available, there is no reason why government schools cannot do better.
As per the Board exams conducted by the NBSE, results of students from government run schools continue to be appalling. To put it in proper perspective, the poor result is itself the reflection of an equally appalling system that encourages everything mediocre. It is equally reflective of the complete failure on the part of the political leadership to address problems that has dogged the education system in Nagaland. It is an open secret that the School Education Department has over the years been dogged by various crisis including wide spread corruption which has only compounded other problems. This has had a negative bearing as far as providing quality education is concerned to the masses in the Government run schools.
Besides the want of a professional management set-up, the other concern revolves on the random transfer orders being issued, sometimes unauthorized, which is largely the result of external interference in teachers’ recruitment and transfers by the politicians. A complete overhauling of recruitment policy must be undertaken so that the system is able to attract capable teachers who are qualified and committed to their profession. Unless such a policy is put into place, politicians may continue the practice of bogus appointments and thereby only producing truant teachers. It would be of interest to note that a survey carried out by the Education Commission of Nagaland some years ago had recorded people’s responses, which stated that external interference in teachers’ recruitment and transfers, including by the politicians, should be stopped. The Commission further reported that teachers should be recruited through competitive examinations and that monitoring and evaluation of schools should be carried out.
To improve the performance of government schools will also require improvement in infrastructure and support services, teacher’s role, evolving pre-service and in-service education of teachers, proper curriculum and constant monitoring and supervision. As much as one expects good performance from students in government run schools, this can come about only if the other key players likewise remain sincere. Merely to expect great performance from students without commensurate sincerity from teacher, management and government is not only unfair but it is tantamount to abdication of responsibility at each stage amounting to indiscipline of those who deal with the education system. This ill has to be rectified first if the quality of education has to improve in government run schools.
