Literacy rate may be high in Nagaland but access to quality education in the state is still a challenge. Being literate – the ability to read and write – is not the same as the process of acquiring knowledge, skills, values, morals, habits, and beliefs which is the definition of education.
As indicated by the report of the Performance Grading Index released by Ministry of Education on Thursday, in the Learning Outcome and Quality domain, Nagaland scored 126 points out of a possible 180, which has remained consistent since the 2017-18 report, indicating that there has been no change in Learning Outcome and Quality in Nagaland over the last five years.
Learning Outcome helps in understanding the concept of quality education. It provides a guideline pertaining to various competencies and skills a student must possess with regard to Languages, Math and Environmental Studies, before graduating from one class to another. It enumerates skills and competencies for each grade from first to eight, encompassing the elementary stage outlining the exemplary activities to be practiced in classrooms. Learning outcomes are statements of the knowledge, skills and abilities individual students should possess and can demonstrate upon completion of a learning experience or sequence of learning experiences.
Quality education provides the outcomes needed for individuals, communities, and societies to prosper. It allows schools to align and integrate fully with their communities and access a range of services across sectors designed to support the educational development of their students. However, scenarios such as the recent protest staged by the Tzürangkong Students’ Conference over non-deployment of appropriate number of teachers, rampant cases of back-door appointment and proxy teachers are indications that the State is toying with the student’s opportunity to get access to quality education. It is no surprise that Nagaland scored as low as 220 out of 360 in the Governance Process domain as per the same PGI report.
The State must realize that quality education is the key to development and a prosperous society and therefore must ensure that the content of education keep pace with the needs of modern society and be a mirror of its goals, values, and priorities.
It is quality education alone that will enhance learners’ cognitive development and it should be the major explicit objective of all education systems. Quality education also requires that the role of education emphasizes on promoting values and attitudes of responsible citizenship and in nurturing creative and emotional development.
Therefore, education administrators and the State government have a responsibility to promote policies that integrate schools and communities into a system that supports holistic development of the child, ensuring that each student is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.