Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio Calls For Overhaul Of Education System In Nagaland

Kohima: Asserting that there has been a "gradual deterioration" in the quality of education despite appointments of highly qualified teachers in all government schools, Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio on Wednesday sought the support of all stakeholders of the sector.

Despite having a literacy rate of almost 80 per cent, Naga youths are unable to get jobs because of the lack of skill-based education, he said.

Rio was speaking at a function at a school in Meriema on the outskirts of Kohima, which has recently been upgraded to a high school. "In all government schools, highly qualified teachers are appointed. However, we have witnessed a gradual deterioration in the quality of education in government schools. It's a collective failure," the chief minister said.

He urged school education department officials and all other stakeholders to work together to improve the sector in the state. "We must come together and take government schools to the lofty positions they used to be in the past," Rio said.

The chief minister also said that the education department is working on "rationalisation" of teachers in government schools. In the process, he said, excess teachers of a school will be transferred to where there are fewer teachers while the schools having nil enrolment will be shut.

He requested village councils and leaders to extend support to the department in the process. The newly upgraded Government High School Meriema started as a Mission School way back in the late 1920s and is recorded to be the best-maintained school in Northern Angami-II area.

The chief minister appreciated the Meriema Village Council for their contribution to the construction of additional classrooms for the school. “Such community support is the need of the hour”, he said.

Rio expressed optimism that the inauguration of the new school building marks a new chapter in the history of government schools and the future of education in the state at large.