Stating that any average person could see from the data that the pass percentage over the years was consistently the same (slightly worse in 2022) which meant the reason for the abysmal condition of our education was somewhere else, said RPP
By Imna Longchar, TFM Nagaland Correspondent
While the thoroughly “unconvincing clarification” of the outgoing Principal Director (PD), Department of School Education (DoSE) regarding the poor performance of government schools was still welcome, the Rising People’s Party (RPP), Nagaland, on Sunday said that it still was awaiting the response of the advisor of DoSE/UDA coalition to address the issue of abolition of the post of principal director. RPP, however said the principal director’s COVID -19 excuse for the department’s “worst performance in six years” takes the cake for the “worst excuse of the year.”
Stating that any average person could see from the data (Check Data below#) that the pass percentage over the years was consistently the same (slightly worse in 2022) which meant the reason for the abysmal condition of our education was somewhere else, RPP said that the reason number one for the poor performance of government schools was the “politicization of bureaucracy,” which includes the PD system, the so-called attachment of teachers to VIPs/SDEOs/DEOs, proxy teaching system, etc.
While the principal director’s post must have been en-cadred by the Ministry of Personnel as explained by the outgoing PD, the post could be abolished by the state government and it should be done so immediately citing that once the PD post is abolished, the director of DoSE would exercise full powers and responsibilities, and since the director is a departmental cadre officer, the default reasoning is that he/she would give their best as they have risen through the ranks as teachers initially.
The advisor for the DoSE should address this burning issue immediately. For the PD’s information, RPP said the DoSE is a department with the highest number of government employees, more than 26000 and for the PD to make the “wild claim” that there are no sufficient eligible officers for the posts of SDEOs and DEOs was an insult to all the employees and officers of the department and perhaps this attitude of the PD and his inability was the reason why this department has “gone to the dogs”.
Mentioning that there are other important reasons galore, RPP also said that for instance, what is the department’s policy with regard to proxy teachers? Has it adopted “Zero tolerance” measures? Then we have the so-called attachment of teachers to VIPs/SDEOs/DEOs where thousands of teachers are concentrated only in district headquarters, not to speak of ‘Dual service teachers’ (teachers and staff appointed under DoSE whilst working in private sectors earning dual salary), excess teachers, etc., which has profoundly affected the foundation of lakhs of students.
Again, if the reason for the deficit of Assistant Headmasters and Headmasters is because of the ‘court cases between different groups of teachers’ as cited by the PD, then it only highlights the poor management of the department by the HoD, AHoD and the Advisor. RPP further stated that it was important to understand that because of this “politicization” of the DoSE by the state government, government school students have a very weak foundation, basically the government played with their lives.
#(Check the following for comparative purpose)
Year Pass%
2017 42.60%
2018 40.77%
2019 43.32%
2020 47.40%
2021 44.86%
2022 36.62%