Phek, March 19 (MExN): A village community in Phek district has constructed an extension building for a Government Middle School in the village.
The village community of Zapami Village under Pfutsero Block took up the construction for extension of 5 classrooms as a community project due to extreme shortage of infrastructure as the 4-room GMS building was constructed 400 metres away from the old primary building.
The extension building was inaugurated by Gregory Thejawelie, State Mission Director SSA Nagaland on March 18, according to a press release.
During the inauguration program, Kelhikha Kenye Chairman SMC Zapami highlighted various initiatives taken up by the village community to strengthen the school. To support the school, the church, village council and SMC introduced Boys and girls hostel for GMS Zapami effective from March 2017, he informed. The community also purchased basic equipments including Microscope for science practicals, he added.
The SMC Chairman further stated that the community intervention has yielded positive responses from parents and students alike. The current year witnessed an increase in enrolment of students, he informed. He later submitted a presentation to the State Mission Director for school infrastructure support.
The State Mission Director SSA in his address lauded the village community for taking the bold initiative to construct the 5 classrooms as a community project. He reminded the villagers that Communitization Act 2002 empowers the village community to have a sense of ownership of the government institutions in the village and take responsibility to strengthen the management according to the needs of the people.
Gregory stated that the various positive initiatives made by the village to strengthen the management of the school is a sign of the presence of sound leadership in the village.
He highlighted the various provisions under Right to Education Act where right to free and compulsory education for every child is guaranteed and urged the villagers to make the best use of these facilities.
He lamented that certain misconceptions in the non-detention policy have led to the degrading of quality in the results.
To boost the performance of teachers, 14,000 SSA teachers were trained by the SSA Nagaland at the block level in 2016, he informed. He however admitted that the SSA’s mission effective intervention to assess quality standard at school level remains a major challenge for the SSA Nagaland.
In this respect, he urged the village community to actively participate in the management of the school.
To address the general weakness of the Nagas in Math and Science, the SSA Mission is ready to intervene at the primary level by providing computer aided learning kits for Math and Science to the students, Gregory added and expressed optimism that the initiative would yield positive outcomes.
Further, to boost performance of students, the SSA Nagaland is looking at the possibility of introducing residential government schools. Currently, 6 residential GMS have been introduced in Nagaland as a pilot project in 6 districts with approval for the remaining 5 districts already obtained, he informed.
