The Directorate of School Education office on 11 September 2024, the Special Guest, Dr. Kekhrielhoulie Yhome, Advisor, School Education & SCERT, handed over laptops to the schools and departments.
The National Education Policy (2020) and subsequent monitoring and administrative policies of the Department of School Education call for efficient education management through digitization. Various interventions under the NECTAR project are designed to meet this demand, including intra-school monitoring and administrative systems. The mandate for digital administration is dependent on ensuring adequate infrastructure within schools and Department establishments which is a huge challenge where access to laptops is limited. Hence, NECTAR is supporting their Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure needs.
Efforts are being made to build the rudimentary infrastructure in the form of laptops across the schools and offices to enhance the capacity of education managers for engaging digital monitoring and governance mechanisms to fulfil their administrative duties in a streamlined fashion. To this end, laptops are being given to all 249 Government High Schools and 55 Government Higher Secondary Schools, District Education Offices, and Sub-Divisional Education Offices under the Directorate of School Education (DoSE). Laptops were also issued to the SCERT, 8 DIETs under SCERT, NBSE office, and Department of School Education (Administrative office).
The Special Guest Dr. Kekhrielhoulie Yhome, Advisor, School Education & SCERT, stated in his Keynote Address that the first component of the NECTAR project is to improve the governance system, and the distribution of laptops is part of that initiative. He said that the idea is to streamline the governance system by studying the administrative roles and structure of governance in the education system. He also stated that there is a plan to come up with the Nagaland Education Service and the Nagaland Education Administrative Service. Further, he stated that the data of teachers and employees collected through the Teachers Attendance Monitoring System is a huge achievement that will enable the Department to understand many aspects, such as appointment and retirement, which in turn will help in the planning process. The Advisor also stated that despite the challenges, we need to initiate the transition to a data-driven and data-intensive process which will help improve our governance system.
Thavaseelan K (IAS), Principal Director, DoSE, and Project Director, NECTAR stated that laptops are meant for all the schools and establishments under the Department of School Education. He set the context by stating that the laptops would help achieve the objectives of the NECTAR project, i.e., to enhance the governance of schools across Nagaland and to improve teaching practices and learning environment in select school complexes. He further stated that the Education Management Information System, amongst other initiatives of the project, will receive a boost through the enhanced digital infrastructure.
Avelu Ruho (NCS), Joint Secretary, DSE, and Deputy Project Director, NECTAR delivered the welcome address. She encouraged all the schools and establishments to utilise the laptops for supporting the maintenance of data and the effective management of schools. She also urged them to retain the laptop at the schools and establishments so that it serves their ICT needs effectively. Further, she informed that the remaining schools from all the districts should collect the laptops on or before 20 September 2024 at the NECTAR office, Directorate of School Education.
(DIPR)
