Apila Sangtam
One of the biggest dilemmas of a rapidly changing society is the one faced by the educational institutions in India and the debate on the quality, accessibility of formal education in Private school/colleges vs Government schools/colleges. While the government of Nagaland promises to transform the government schools/colleges into world-class institutions on paper, in reality, the goals have remained in the pipeline.
The government schools of Nagaland are in different states of concern along with the colleges when it comes to fulfilling even the basic minimum requirements that an educational institution demands for its functioning. Sao Chang College, situated in the district headquarter of Tuensang is one of the first educational institutions that was established in the year 1973 that catered to the educational needs of the people at Tuensang. It has the reputation of being the oldest college in the Eastern side of Nagaland, which first started as a ‘Night College' to initially provide opportunities of learning for the working employees. Its name was later changed to Tuensang College during a meeting of the Steering committee on 25th April 1974. The college was taken over by the government in April 1983 and shifted to its present location in the year 1996. It currently operates as a full-fledged co-educational institution and is affiliated to the Nagaland University.
On 5th September 2019, Sao Chang College, Tuensang held a celebration to mark the occasion of Teacher's day. In order to reach the college for any program or even regular classes, every individual has to endure the horrible road conditions that lead to Sao Chang College. The bumpy and pot-hole filled roads is a nightmarish experience for the students who travel on the same route for the entirety of their academic year, be it for regular classes or even for year end examinations. Especially for the students appearing in examinations, the deplorable state of the roads can lead to further anxiety and stress prior to sitting for the exams.
The Teacher's Day program was an eye-opener as one could witness the amount of effort poured in by the students organizing the program by themselves to show their gratitude towards their teachers and guides. Prayers were held for the teachers, the Principal of the College gave a motivational speech, which was followed with various special performances by the multi-talented students. As the students performed, it reminded the audience of their own school and college days filled with aspirations and hopes to achieve their ambitions. The program ended with refreshments that were prepared and arranged by the students themselves.
Several teachers in their conversations with the curious locals spoke on their experiences of teaching in the college, the number of students enrolled in the current academic year, the students and teachers mode of commuting to the college, and various issues pertaining to the running of the government college in Tuensang. The faculty was warmly welcoming the various queries, and they had the willingness to share their experiences.
During one of my own conversation with a faculty member from the Political Science department we discussed about the education system in Nagaland, the society, the changing mindsets among the students, the difficulties they face in pursuing their academic learning especially in the remote towns such as Tuensang as compared to their counterparts in the suburban towns of Kohima and Dimapur. The roadway to the college is not the only factor which can deter the students or even the teachers from attending the classes regularly, but according to the faculty member, the college did not even have enough number of benches and chairs for the students to be seated and have the classes conducted. She said, "we literally have to wait for the other classes to get over or take the chairs from the library and put it back again".
Now the question arises, are not the government colleges supposed to be having all the basic minimum facilities such as provision of benches and chairs in the respective schools and colleges? Why does the student or a teacher have to run around to collect and transfer benches/chairs from one room to another? When one talks about the basic minimum requirement, it entails a good, vibrant and clean environment for a student to study. This would include proper playground, proper infrastructure and facilities such as computer and science labs, regular electricity, safe drinking water, an adequate amount of chair/benches, tables, whiteboard, and maintenance of healthy sanitary standards and mostly importantly modes of transportation in the form of buses for both the faculty members and the students.
When all these basic amenities are lacking, the willingness to study, learn and even teach is found wanting. The students and faculty have to travel up to a distance of 9 kilometers from the main town and some travel even further distances from the remote villages to the college. Now when these basic requirements for the students, in particular, are not being taken care of by the government, then the accessibility to education will further diminish and the number of students attending classes will reduce. The result is the increase in drop-out rates and lack of spread of education, leading to a lesser number of enlightened individuals as the quality of educational institutions degrades.
Now if this is the situation in the government colleges, especially in Tuensang, how will the students of these government colleges adapt to the fast-changing dynamics in the education and employment sector. Forget about comparing to the rest of India but even within Nagaland the disparity in the quality of education is apparent as compared to the private schools/colleges. This disparity is the sole reason for which the rural towns are witnessing further migration of its youth to the suburbs of Kohima and Dimapur. Therefore, the demographic dividend is further widening in the rural towns and with the deteriorating infrastructure and facilities in a government institution of higher learning such as that of Sao Chang college, the quality of productive skills that could have been harnessed in the rural towns itself and the economic benefits of remittances that could have been possible by retaining the youth is now being diverted to the suburban host towns of Kohima and Dimapur.
Can we, therefore, expect quality educational institutions run by the government to function fully in rural towns such as Tuensang? Will the administration and policy-makers place a higher value on retaining its skilful youth or will we remain trapped in the deploring state of affairs? It was mentioned in the newspapers that Sao Chang College had organised events like Cultural programs, exposure trip to Gangtok, floriculture and other career counseling workshops. Hosting these programs is indeed commendable when the college lacks the basic amenities. If only the newspapers could have also highlighted the main issues affecting the functioning of the college.
Recently TemjenImna Along, the Minister for Higher and Technical Education, Government of Nagaland had visited the Sao Chang College. As per the news report, he had assured of all possible help and support to the college even contributing his "one month's salary" to the college. He had also promised to provide a bus for the college. One “old bus” arrived as promised, but unfortunately, it was a 24 seater. Now, there are more than 40 teaching faculties and around 400-500 students enrolled in Sao Chang college, how will it even be possible to accommodate 40 teachers in a single 24 seater bus daily? And what will even happen to the road conditions leading to the college or even the number of benches and chairs at the very basic? It has been 46 years since the foundation of the college, and soon they will be celebrating their golden jubilee in four years. Why is it that our educational system and institutions of learning have not been developed along the lines of retaining the youth, providing them quality education and opportunity here in the rural towns itself? Where do all the government funds disappear, which is supposed to be for the provision of the basic amenities in schools and colleges run by the government? It is high time to question the government of Nagaland for the lack of transparency in the government-run educational institutions especially in Tuensang and hold it accountable for playing with the life and career of the young, bright minds of our future generation.
(Apila Sangtam is currently pursuing her PhD in Indo-Pacific Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University)
