Mhonthung Yanthan
Assistant Professor
Department of Political Science
Where does Higher Education in Nagaland stand? On 8th February, 2014, the teaching staff of St. Joseph’s College, Jakhama had a workshop cum meeting where the Principal, Fr. Abraham Lotha, promptly challenged the teachers in making our education a global standard. Is it possible? How do Naga intellectuals define Higher Education? The genesis of education in Nagaland commences from the traditional Morung institution which was parsimonious in its approach as compared to the lavish and expensive education system of modern higher education. Education is essentially an intellectual process which transmits and creates knowledge or information, develops and structures critical cognitive powers, enriches and reinforces human sensitivity and sensibility, and combines the urge to explain, control and reunite with nature into a purposeful pursuit of an understanding of the relationships between and among human beings and nature. It is also a source of power. Approximately, 75 colleges in Nagaland carry on this process in various ways, motivated by diverse conceptions of the appropriate model. The intensification of education is a growing syndrome across the world. Globally, the education system is focusing on expediency and pragmatic education, global competitiveness, education for sustainability, innovations and in fact, UK focuses on developing public sectors using performance based funding for teaching and research. China encourages students by cost sharing and cost recovery methods. As a result, the relational for all the education system is to raise the international standards.
At present, quality is an issue that cannot be avoided in education and what institutions do to ascertain quality becomes the most important and effective of all efforts and initiatives. However, in Nagaland because of lack of professional support many colleges provide quantity education which produce ‘first class degree but third class education’. The matter of the fact is that, out of 75 colleges in Nagaland, only 19 colleges are under 2(f) & 12 B and 2 colleges under 2(f) of the UGC Act, 1956, as on 31.03.2011. In my view, some of the problems of higher education institutions in Nagaland are;
1) Inadequate physical infrastructure:
Quality education is possible when facilities, resources and technologies are upgraded with adequate funds. Most of the colleges in Nagaland are not accredited by NAAC. Those colleges which are accredited by NAAC get woefully lower grade due to such issues as low quality input, inadequate teacher-student ratio, poor communication, etc. As a result, prospective grants are also curtailed.
2) Lack of teaching credibility:
Quality of teaching depends upon the quality of teachers. Availability of adequate and qualified teacher is a prerequisite of quality education. Quality teachers prefer to work in better colleges/universities offering better inputs, standard teacher-student ratio with effective communication, better physical and research facilities, etc. As such, highly qualified teachers are not interested to work in private colleges.
3) Meagre Remuneration:
Most of the private colleges in Nagaland pay minimum remuneration to the teachers which creates apathy among teachers towards full dedication of their service.
4) Lack of innovative outlook and research:
Most of the higher educational institutions in Nagaland lack innovative outlook and ingredients of research which also hinders the development of the teachers, students and the overall infrastructure of the institutions. Many colleges in Nagaland are still following the traditional mode of teaching and learning instead of adopting modern technological teaching aids and gadgets to help improve class room learning.
5) Inadequate funds:
Most of the higher educational institutions in Nagaland are facing acute shortage of funds. As a consequence, they are constricted to expand on areas like improvement in technology and research based activities. Government supports to private colleges are insignificant.
6) Lack of job guaranteed courses:
Education is always seen as a medium to guarantee livelihood prospects in future. But in today’s competitive world, where every institution is striving towards offering professional courses, the educational institutions in Nagaland are still lagging behind in this regard. In recent years, the situation has slightly changed where few institutions are initiating professional courses though; they fail to provide facilities for campus recruitment. This calls for profound improvement.
Suggestions for improvement
1) The System of Examination:
Academic standard and adequate coverage of the syllabi need to be ensured while setting question papers. Professionalism and computerization for timely declaration of results are very much required in higher education. Utmost care, seriousness and accountability in the scrutiny of answer scripts is also the need of the hour.
2) Research and Technological Development:
Research and technological developments are inseparable components of any College/University. Research projects help to generate resources, strengthen infrastructure facilities and augment the academic resources for the benefit of the students in addition to the personal recognitions of the scholar. A team consisting of experts from industries, universities, research institutes and legal fields may be constituted to formulate policies on consultancy, patent and technological development on the basis of local needs and available resources.
3) Establish relationship between job and education:
Without establishing a relationship between education and employment, higher education cannot create interest and thus cannot attract raw talents of the region. So, universities and colleges should focus on extending job oriented programmes.
4) More support and funds:
In order to improve the higher education system in Nagaland, Public-Private Partnership needs to be encouraged. Government should even think of PPP to bring about qualitative development in those govt. colleges with sub-standard quality out-put.
In conclusion, let me point out this way, political negligence, poor administration in higher educational institutes and lack of professional support has led the colleges in Nagaland to a disappointing condition. Appropriate policies and home-bred professionals (both academic and administrative), are vital requirements for improving the quality of higher education in Nagaland.
