Dr Asangba Tzudir
The UNESCO Report on the State of the Education Report for India 2021 highlighted both positive and negative aspects of the ‘state of Education in Nagaland. The percentages of schools and teachers in the rural and urban areas, the percentage of women teachers, single teacher schools, vacancies and teacher requirement were some aspects which the UNESCO designated the state of Nagaland as ‘very good.’
On the flip, the negatives highlighted were a matter of serious concern in the light of delivering quality education, the chief among them being under-qualified teachers, and poor working conditions. While the poor working conditions dearly affects both teachers and students and have a bearing on the overall health of education, having under-qualified teachers will directly affect student achievement being the primary school related factor.
The report of the statistics of under-qualified teachers at the pre-primary level stood at 20.77% which is also the third lowest in India as against the All-India average of 7.69%. In the primary level too Nagaland stood third from the bottom at 30% as against the National average of 4.56%. At the upper primary level, at 15.5% as against the national average of 3.27% Nagaland had the highest percentage of under-qualified teachers.
Though a gloomy picture is presented it is not surprising considering the fact that the profession of a teacher especially at the primary level is to a large extent seen as a primary means to sustain the family rather than that of delivering quality education which in actuality is the primary focus and concern. This is largely to do with the recruitment process and the end result being the induction of under-qualified or unqualified teachers. Such has been the general trend that teachers especially at the primary level have a low-self esteem like being a primary teacher seems to be a saving grace, as the next best thing to being unemployed.
Besides other aspects impairing the delivery of quality education, students struggling at the high school level especially in Government high schools is a direct symptom of under-qualified teachers at the primary level.
Various teachers training programmes are conducted from time to time in order to develop and enhance the skills of teachers but such trainings may not necessarily enhance the knowledge content of the teachers. A teacher may over the course of their career, through experience may become a better teacher but will still fail to deliver on the content level of knowledge if the teacher is under-qualified or unqualified, and worst is if the teacher is not prepared to update their knowledge pool.
While it is imperative for all teachers to keep updating knowledge the government needs to take some hard decisions including the ‘golden handshake’ in the larger interest of students education, and also adopt means of having the most qualified teachers at the primary level of education. While B.Ed as a qualification for teachers have become the norm for bringing teaching skills, having a masters degree should be made the desirable minimum to teach at the primary level. And while having subject experts are imperative, it is also important to understand and develop human resources and for which teachers need to have added knowledge of philosophy and psychology.
(Dr Asangba Tzudir writes a weekly guest editorial for The Morung Express. Comments can be mailed to asangtz@gmail.com)
