C M Y K
www.morungexpress.com
ThursDAY • MAY 11 • 2017
DIMAPUR • Vol. XII • Issue 127• 12 PAGes • 5
T H e
ESTD. 2005
P o W e R
You don’t have to be a man to fight for freedom. All you have to do is to be an intelligent human being Trump fires FBI Director Comey, setting off US political storm PAGE 09
Moses Chalai holds review meeting with Social Welfare department
o F
T R u T H
— Malcolm X
Inspired Alves leads Juventus into Champions League final
PAGE 02
PAGE 12
Nagaland Govt School results: Outcome of Apathy? Moa Jamir Dimapur | May 10
The Morung Express Poll QuEsTion
Vote on www.morungexpress.com SMS your anSwer to 9862574165 Can an inclusive mechanism of cooperation help in addressing differences and building common ground among Nagas? Why? Yes
no
others
Attention Subscribers If your copy of The Morung Express newspaper is not being delivered to you on a regular basis by your delivery boy, please contact us at: 8416011888. Furthermore, we are open to suggestions, constructive criticism and feedback about how The Morung Express can improve its reporting and raise socially conscious issues. This will increase the newspaper’s relevancy and responsiveness to our readers. The Morung Express
Nagaland State Minister for School Education, Yitachu recently said that given the state of affairs in his department, he had expected at least 100 government schools to give nil result in 2016, i.e., zero pass percentage. He was speaking at Nagaland Legislative Assembly session in March. The Minister’s lowered expectations were surpassed as ‘only’ 30 schools produced nil result yet again this year like in 2016. Not for efforts from the Department of School Education (DoSE) though. The Minister’s worries were placed in real state of affairs—50 percent of government schools operate without math teachers. Where available, the math teachers are underqualified for the job. The Department failed to provide adequate teachers to 132 schools in 2014 and 21 schools in 2016. Given this, students are evading government schools like the plague. According to NBSE data, in 2016, out of 22319 student enrolment in Class 10, nearly 74% (or 16495) chose private schools, as against 26.09% (or 5404), who probably had no choice but to go for government schools. This is how the Welfare State of Nagaland operates. No teachers, poor infra ‘Bura Namsang Government High School struggling with only five teachers; no headmaster.’ Several local dailies carried this headline in Feb-
NBSE‘s curious computing funda
ruary 2016. DoSE had failed to deploy a headmaster, assistant headmaster and graduate teachers, especially in Math and Science subjects. In 2017, when the HSLC results were declared, the school, situated over 302 kilometer away Nagaland capital Kohima, in Tamlu sub-division, Longleng district, was among the 30 government high schools (GHS) in the State that showed ‘zero’ result. Five students from the school appeared for the exam. In September 2016, students of GHS, Chessore, Tuensang took out a march against the Nagaland State Government’s “failure” to post Math and Science teachers in the school. It was temporarily shut down by organizations in the area demanding rectification. This school managed to score 53% pass percentage, far above the 42% average of government schools in Nagaland State. “School upgraded, but no building,” stated another headline about GHS, Seyochung in Kiphire District informing that though it was upgraded from Government Middle School in 2013, regular classes had yet to begin due to lack of a school building. No wonder then that the school showed zero result. The most privileged in terms of educational avenues, even Government Schools in Dimapur and Kohima are not immune to perpetual apathy that inflicts them all over the State.
Morung Express news Dimapur | May 10
science teachers and the absence of administrators, amplified by unpaid salaries and proxies make government schools the resort for many students. The performance of many government schools in HSLC exams has been mediocre, with many schools showing nil results. In 2014, 24 GHS secured nil results which sky-rocketed to 38 in 2015 before ‘stabilizing’ to 30 in both 2016 and 2017. Two private schools, one in Dimapur and other in Mokokchung, also showed nil results. It has become customary to vilify government schools. However, the pass percentage in government schools improved from 32.81% in 2016 to 42.60% in 2017, an increase by over 29%. Statistics reveal that among the 30 schools, only five schools had over 10 students sitting for the Cumulative outcome Visible lack of infra- exam while the rest were in structure, want of math/ single digits, below five.
Two arrested for kidnapping, four for breaking into ATM DIMAPUR, MAY 10 (MExN): Dimapur Police have arrested two persons in connection with a case of abduction for ransom that occurred on April 28. A press note from the PRO, Dimapur Police informed that East Police Station, Dimapur was in receipt of information regarding a Haryana registered truck being hijacked by miscreants and the driver, one Ramesh Kumar, reportedly abducted. The owner of the truck based in Haryana received a ransom demand of Rs.10 lakhs for release of the truck and the driver. Following
this, the Dimapur Police recovered the truck from 7th Mile area - adjacent to the Highway, on May 2. The victim was also rescued from Tenyiphe- A village the same day. The Police arrested one Jacob Deo Poumai. Then on May 3, police said that the prime accused, identified as one Nihara @ Hasina Begum was also arrested. “More people are found to be involved in the crime and efforts to arrest them is underway,” police added. In a separate case, Dimapur Police on May 9 arrested four persons for attempting to break into
an ATM booth in the two and a half mile area. The incident occurred at around 3:30am in the morning. Teams on duty rushed to the spot and found the teller machine damaged and that the miscreants had fled already. However, a search of the area led to the arrest of the miscreants from the Darogapathar village area. The arrested persons were identified as Inavito Achumi, Rodip Kachari, Hokito Sume and Veyikhu Ayemi. A vehicle and implements used for the commission of the crime were also seized from their possessions.
PSU resolves to restrict movement of timber laden trucks from June 1
C M Y K
DIMAPUR, MAY 10 (MExN): The Peren Students Union (PSU) today informed that no log laden truck will be allowed to ply within its territorial jurisdiction after May 31, 2017. In a letter to the Peren Deputy Commissioner, the PSU talked about the growing menace of deforestation and its adverse effect on the environment. It further appreciated the call of DPDB, Peren in taking “rightful measures to combat deforestation which is a big problem in the world today, with hundreds and even thousands of vulnerable forests being cut down, which has also led to loss of many different species of plant, tree and animal, having a devastating effect on the climate…” The PSU informed that
any truck transporting timber (Fanta size) will be subjected to verification within the territorial jurisdiction of Peren and all its satellite villages from June 1 onwards. Any Individual/ Groups failing to comply by the same will be imposed a penalty so decided by the Village Customary Court, and the seized goods will be confiscated, it warned. The union further stated that it would “not be responsible for any untoward incident that may occur, in case of its intervention.” Deforestation, it stated has become the greatest threat to biodiversity and species existence across the world. The Government of Nagaland has provided the “Nagaland Tree
Felling Regulation, 2002” laying the regulations for felling of trees. The PSU urged the DC to issue directions to the concerned department to mandatorily conduct physical verification and issue permits as per the norms and procedures laid out. It also asked that officials/personnel manning the Forest and Police Check Gates across the district be issued stringent order not to permit the movement of timber/log laden trucks. In the event of failure to abide by the same, the undersigned will engage its volunteers to impose the restrictions, for which we shall not be held accountable, it cautioned. The PSU also asked the DC to make available the
details of all registered tree plantations in the district and permits issued thereof to any individuals/groups etc. The name(s) of permit holders along with location details and number of trees permitted for felling in non forest areas and number of transit passes issued against the same is sought from April 1, 2015 till date, the PSU stated. “In this common endeavour of arresting deforestation which has extreme effect on Global Warming and Climate Change, it is urged upon your competent authority to impose the measures as proposed and avoid interventions of any kind by units/volunteers who will be delegated by the undersigned to execute them,” the PSU said to the DC.
Overall, the total number of students that appeared exams in these schools was only 181, an average of six students per school. The performance also reflected huge district wide disparities with schools in eastern Nagaland suffering the most. For instance, among schools securing ‘nil results’, nine were in Tuensang, six in Longleng, four in Zunheboto, three each in Mon and Kiphire. Dimapur with three schools and Mokokchung with two complete the list. In overall pass performance, the bottom of the list was captured by eastern districts with Longleng being the lowest at 7%, followed by Mon and Kiphire at 11% each and Tuensang at 19%. The only district lower than the eastern districts was Zunheboto at 16%. Among the private schools, the worst performer was Tuensang at 14.17%, topped by Kohima and Phek at 86%.
A Silver lining Despite the poor performance by many government schools, a silver lining emerged in the form of six securing 100% pass percentage. They include three schools from Mokokchung District – GHS Sungratsu, Mongsenyimti and Changtongya B; one in Kohima –GHS PWD Colony; and one each in Phek and Kiphire – GHS Phusachodu and GHS Amahator respectively. It was not a case of one appearance-one pass, but an average of 6 students per school, with the highest at GHS Phusachodu with 15 students. The g ove r nm e nt should study what led to their success and emulate such methods in other government schools. Continued apathy only means the government does not aspire to provide education to every child, nor a people that can make informed decisions for the future.
The Nagaland Board of Schools Education (NBSE), on May 8, declared the results for HSLC and HSSLC showing one of the best performances in recent times. However, when carefully scrutinised, it depicted a peculiar scenario – two separate criteria were applied to measure the same results. For instance, for overall aggregates of the qualified students at the State level. For both government and private schools, the Board arrived at the percentage based on the number of students ‘enrolled for exam.’ But curiously for individual schools/district percentages, NBSE took ‘enrollment at start of the year’ as the parameter, regardless of whether a student had left school midway or dropped out during internal selection exam. Consequently, huge discrepancies appear between individual school/district and State level aggregate figures. Take, for instance, the case of performance of government schools – the State level pass percentage at 42.60 was based on ‘persons enrolled for exam’ while district wise data was based on ‘enrollment at start of the year.’ Thus, Kohima showed a pass percentage of 57%, which would have been 73.15% if calculated on the basis of ‘person enrolled for exam.’ Similar calculation was done for the individual school performances. If the State level aggregates was done using the same parameters, the pass percentages of government schools would drastically drop from 42.60% to 31.32%. The average of private schools will also decrease from 86.74% to 77.17%. This system has been followed for the past 3-4 years, sources informed. Deliberate, says NBSE When enquired with the apparent discrepancies in criteria followed to calculate the figures, NBSE Public Information Officer, Dziesevolie Tsürho said that it was deliberate. Aggregate percentage is worked out from the actual number of students enrolled for the final exam, he informed. This was done “to discourage strict screening of students by the schools.” “There are instances where the school admits/enrolls maximum students in the beginning of the year and many are screened out before final just to maintain percentage.”
Partnering in action for humanitarian norms, gender & child rights protection Morung Express news Dimapur | May 10
Several intellectuals, experts and social activists from diverse backgrounds, yet working for a common cause—improvement of the human condition, converged here on Wednesday at Hotel Acacia and deliberated on Humanitarian Norms, Gender and Child Rights Protection, indentifying the problems, challenges and current approaches to the issues. The event was organized by the Naga Peoples’ Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR) in the form of a seminar on “partnering in action towards international campaign for humanitarian norms, gender and child rights protection.” “State cannot deny the due process of law to anybody” said resource person for the seminar and Director, Centre for Refugee Law Studies and Research GU & President, Citizens Collective Coordinator, IIPDEP, Prof. Subhram Rajkhowa. He was speaking on the topic ‘International Humanitarian Norms,’ and pointed out the conspicuous policy of the Government of India in dismissing “armed conflict” as a “law and order problem” – the State’s recourse to prevent international intervention and the application of humanitarian laws.
Participants of the seminar organized by the naga Peoples’ Movement for Human Rights in Dimapur on May 10. (Photo by Betoka Swu)
The government, he asserted, cannot shy away from inviting international agencies to monitor and assess conflicts. He further stated that the State cannot deny the due process of law to anybody. Rajkhowa added that the application of humanitarian laws was not confined to war (between nations) but has a much wider scope. As per Common Article 3 of the Geneva Convention, humanitarian laws encompass non-international armed conflicts and most of today’s conflicts, including those in the North East, are under this category in nature, he added. He also underscored the need to promote nonstate actors like the International Red Cross Society
(IRCS) in conflict areas, saying they cannot work independently in highlighting violation of human rights. He also dwelt on various aspects and provisions of the Geneva and Hague Conventions from where oppressed movements could draw recourse. Dr. Anungla Aier, Principal of Kohima Science College meanwhile remarked that Naga society was at the crossroads of tradition and modernity and called for the re-examination of the cultural precondition of stringent patriarchal values. She highlighted gender issues as one of the most critical areas in Naga society. She further stated that an imbalance of power was deeply embedded in the social, economic and polit-
ical structure of the society, calling for re-examining the gender equation from a ‘human rights view’, and not a traditional view. Dr Aier also pointed out the various forms of gender discrimination in Naga customary practices. The key challenge to secure women’s rights, she stated, was to break down the structural obstacles built around traditional practices. This, she stated, can be achieved with active participation of men and through creation of an enabling environment in Naga society. K. Ela, the Director of Prodigals’ Home Dimapur, meanwhile stated that children were not living in a safe society with many running away from home to avoid sexual abuse and violence.