A one-month School Leadership Development Programme (SLDP) for heads of Government High Schools (GHS) and government Higher Secondary Schools (GHSS) is underway at SIEMAT Hall, SCERT in Kohima from 2nd to 31st May 2023.
To enhance the capacity of the School Leadership Academy (SLA) SCERT, Nagaland, the programme is being organized in collaboration with Nagaland Education Project – The Lighthouse (NECTAR). The project aims to train three batches of approximately 150 School Heads by June 2023. By the end of the project period in June 2026, the project aims to support SLA in training all the Government school heads in the State.
Benjung Yaden, Reader, SCERT, Kohima gave the introduction and an overview of the training programme followed by a self-introduction of the attendees.
Achetla Ao, Joint Director & Cell Head, State Assessment Cell, SIEMAT & SLA, SCERT Kohima, delivering the welcome note, stated that the nature of the training is to enhance the professional skills of the school heads.
The concept was formulated in the National Centre of School Leadership Academy in 2016 and Nagaland SLA was formed on January 10, 2016, she informed.
SLA has so far conducted 2 programmes on 30 days certification course for school heads, one programme on SLDP for 18 days and one 16-day SLDP for 50 school heads, and a 2-day school leadership programme for 25 private school heads. SLA has trained 112 school leaders in the state but there is a need to train more, Achetla Ao added.
‘School leadership is one of the most crucial factors affecting students' learning." She further informed that school leadership has gained a lot of importance in recent years as it is the second most important factor affecting students learning.
A study has shown that out of 100%, 60% of the students learning in the school depends on the quality of the teacher, 25% on the school heads, and the remaining 15% on other factors like parental support, community, genetics, etc, she said. Saying that it was a big responsibility being a school head, Ao urged them to learn and enhance their professional skills during the training.
Delivering the keynote address, Thavaseelan K, Principal Director of the Department of School Education (DoSE) and Project Director of Nagaland Education Project (NEP) gave a brief overview of the Nagaland Education Project stating that it aimed to enhance the governance of schools across the state and improve teaching practices and learning environments.
The principal director informed that there was a lot of ongoing work within the project including Lighthouse School Complexes and monitoring the Performance Incentive Grant (PIG) among others.
Mention may be made that SLDP is a training programme designed by the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA) for heads of schools of central government and state/UT government and government-aided schools across the country, as well as aspiring school heads.
Underlining the need to transform ordinary schools into 'centers of excellence', the role of school heads needs to go beyond administrative and managerial responsibilities to proactively envision and take various initiatives for school transformation.
(DIPR)
