The Performance Incentive Grants (PIG) under Nagaland Education Project – The Lighthouse NECTAR (Nagaland: Enhancing Classroom Teaching and Resources)aims to strengthen the sense of ownership and responsibility among the community for all-round school development.
The grant empowers the School Management Committee (SMC) and School Management and Development Committee (SMDC) to plan and execute various school improvement activities based on their specific needs.
Besides compulsory activities such as SMC/SMDC meetings, Parent Teacher Meetings, record maintenance, and outreach activities, PIG also recommends a comprehensive list of activities for schools availing of the grant to take up.
The story featured showcase how schools across Nagaland are perceivably improving their spaces of learning as well as enriching the learning process of students, through proactive community participation.
GMS Rumesinyu: Enriching Students, One Step At A Time
Thirty kilometres away from the district headquarter Tseminyu, is the village of Rumesinyu. On top of a hill stands Government Middle School Rumesinyu, catering to the educational needs of its children. Like any government school in rural areas, it has its share of challenges. In 2022, GMS Rumesinyu was among the first batch to be selected for the Performance Incentive Grant (PIG). Adhering to one of the main mandates of the PIG, which is to encourage community ownership and participation, the School Management Committee (SMC) is actively planning activities for improving learning practices and enhancing the learning environment as well.
In 2023, when the Communication Team of NECTAR Project visited the school to record classroom transactions for the Teach Tool, the Head Teacher empathized with the students because, despite the close proximity, a majority of the students never had the opportunity to visit the state capital Kohima and the commercial hub of Dimapur.
In a heartwarming act of generosity, the SMC, teachers, and parents pooled in resources and sponsored an exposure trip to Dimapur for the students of Classes 2 to 6 on 19th and 20th February, 2024. The students visited the Piphema Students’ Union Children Park, Dimapur Railway Station, Kachari Ruins, the Science Centre, and the shopping area at New Market, Bata Charali, and Hong Kong Market in Dimapur.
The group spent the night at GCYM in Sovima, a Christian mission centre that provided free lodging. To minimise expenditure, the students brought their own rice, while the vegetables were bought with the collective fund. On their way back, the group visited Highland Park in Kohima for a lunch break.
Kenyushwe Kemp, the Head Teacher, illustrates the significance of the trip:
“The students study about so many things in their textbook, like the train station, the hustle and bustle of cities, commercial areas like shopping malls, and also about ancient history. So, to connect their text book and what they study with the real world, we undertook the exposure trip.”
Further, not wanting to make the Pre-Primary students feel excluded, the parents and teachers also collected a small sum and took the Pre-Primary students to Nsonji Lake, about an hour’s drive from Rumesinyu, for an outing since they could not be taken to Dimapur.
Besides facilitating the exposure trip, GMS Rumesinyu is also utilizing PIG to support community-driven solutions to its problems. Owing to its location on a hilltop, the school faced the issue of water scarcity. Recognizing the difficulty faced by the school, the village council stepped in and contributed a water pump, which helped in addressing the crisis.
The teachers and SMC members contributed money to construct a Mid-Day Meal serving table. These are some of the ways in which the students of GMS Rumesinyu and the community as a whole are being enriched through a renewed sense of collective responsibility.
(Nagaland Education Project – The Lighthouse (NECTAR)