For a relevant education

Teacher’s Day on the September 5,coincided with the birthday of India’s second President Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (September 5, 1888 – April 17, 1975), a staunch believer in the formal system of education and was most well known as a diplomat, scholar, President of India and above all a teacher. It was Dr Radhkrishnan, as President of India, who formally inaugurated Nagaland as the 16th state under the Indian Union on December 1,1963 at Kohima. Teacher’s Day was celebrated throughout India including Nagaland on September 5,2023 through various programmes. Teachers are felicitated and honoured for the services rendered to society in preparing the generation of students to take become the future leaders. Teachers make the difference through education and so as to impact the future of society. Most students who go on to achieve great things in life remember teachers who have made a big difference in their student life during their school or college days. That is why in developed countries, teachers are considered among the top professionals at par with physicians and lawyers. The face of society reflects those holding important positions in society. Today, teachers are more qualified academically and better trained than their counterparts four or five decades ago. However despite the ever changing world, the standard of education has not fulfilled the demand to usher wide opportunities other than having more literate people armed with degrees qualify for government jobs. The number of unemployed in the state reflects the severe limitations of the education system and which calls for urgent reforms of the system. Some have preferred to explain the quality of education as merely churning out job seekers and not job creators. Thus, in a fast changing environment, the objective of education has undergone significant changes to meet the demand where the focus has been on empowerment and to teach student on how to learn to think critically, solve problems, and understand complex concepts. The education system in the state is also in need of some serious change, not merely because it sounds good to call or demand for change but to ensure building a system relevant to fast changes taking place. One of the most heard of remedy has been on emphasising on quality of teachers and so they are encouraged to do more than obtain B.Ed or M.Ed. Despite having academically qualified teachers as well as spending a colossal amount on education, it is a matter of grave concern, that government high schools have unfailingly under performed in High School Leaving Certificates and Higher Secondary School Leaving Certificate examinations when compared with private educational institutions. Also, the department of school education has no dearth of employed teachers since almost every government educational institute is well staffed or in other words, overstaffed but under worked. For instance there are over 17,000 government teachers at various levels for 1, 81, 358 students as against 12,000 plus teachers in private institutions for 2, 58,948 students. The ratio of teacher to student in government schools(1:10) is much lesser than that of private schools(1:20) for creating a learning environment inside the classrooms. Of course, the government exists not to make profit unlike private institutions; but that does not justify extremely poor performances at various examinations. There is need for reform of education which may begin with formation of an expert committee of experienced professional educationists.