Nagaland to mobilize communities to boost education

Nagaland to mobilize communities to boost education

Kohima, July 14: The Nagaland Government has communitised all elementary schools, under the Department of School Education, in both rural and urban areas from February 4, 2004 following the enactment of the Nagaland Communitisation of Public Institutions and Services Act on April 15, 2002.

According to the official report of the Department of School Education after the enactment of the Act, initially the Department had communitised a total of 205 elementary schools covering 90 villages in 2002 as a pilot project. In the second phase, 197 schools covering 128 villages were communitised in 2003.

Buoyed by positive response of the community, the Nagaland government had communitised all elementary schools from February 4, 2004. Altogether there are 1,778 communitised elementary schools covering both rural and urban areas under the management and supervision of 118 Village Education Committee (VEC), constituted by selecting members from the area where the school is situated.

Under the initiative of VEC, the community had been taking an important part in academic and development works by sponsoring additional private teachers to solve the problem of shortage of teachers. Some of the VEC had set up free coaching and remedial classes to help weak students. The report said initiatives had been taken by the VEC in imparting vocational training to school children by engaging them in folklore, folksongs and dances and customary law practices.

To ensure active participation of the community in the implementation of communitisation and Sarva Shikshya Abhiyan (SSA) programme, the department had formulated an action plan for community mobilisation. As part of the first step towards implementation of the action plan on community mobilisation programme, the department imparted resource persons training on communitisation of elementary education, the report said. (UNI)