Nagaland to shift cramped GMS Midland in Dimapur to a new site

The Nagaland government has agreed in principle to move Government Middle School (GMS) Midland in Dimapur to a nearby site because the school has no room to grow, Principal Director of School Education Shashank Pratap Singh said on Tuesday.

Singh was speaking at the school's golden jubilee celebration, Eastern Mirror reported.

A school on a tiny plot

GMS Midland was taken over by the government in 1976. It now runs on a plot of about 95 by 36 feet and has around 200 students. The building is shared by the School Education and the Health and Family Welfare departments, leaving no space for expansion.

Singh said proposals had come in from the Deputy Commissioner of Dimapur and negotiations were on to finalise a new site. He expected the process to be completed soon, after which a new school building can come up.

Teachers at GHSS Sungro

Singh also responded to the agitation by the Lotha Middle Range Students' Union (LMRSU) over staffing at Government Higher Secondary School (GHSS), Sungro. He said some claims on social media did not reflect the real position.

The higher secondary section has five Post Graduate Teachers (PGTs) for Classes 11 and 12, he said, but two women teachers went on maternity leave at the same time, creating a genuine gap. The department had not been told in time. A temporary PGT for Political Science is being arranged, and the PGT for English was due back on Tuesday.

He said the department no longer provides substitute teachers for staff on long, maternity or study leave, and school heads must inform the Directorate in advance.

Singh added that many teachers at GHSS Sungro were reportedly taking only three classes a day, though the Nagaland School Education Service Rules, 2017 require at least four.

Mergers and biometric attendance

The School Education department accounts for about a quarter of the state's total salary and pension bill, Singh said. Many villages and wards have three or four separate government schools for different levels, forcing children to change schools and collect transfer certificates at each stage, which he linked to dropouts.

The department is pursuing mergers into composite schools where possible, or a common administration with one principal and one School Management Committee where buildings cannot be combined.

He said the SMiLE app is now in use in government schools and offices, each given a tablet. Biometric attendance, already mandatory at the Directorate, will be extended to all government schools, and the Directorate has been withholding salaries of staff with poor attendance for three months.