• Loreni Tsanglao, NET Correspondent, Nagaland 

Altogether, 12 Nagaland Heritage-based films were released today by the Advisor for School Education & SCERT – K.T. Sukhalu, IAS (Rtd.) at the Capital Convention Centre in Kohima.

Sukhalu asserted that numerous aspects of our heritage, culture, and traditions are not being fully documented and asked the SCERT department to document those for the students.

He said that “students were often not fully aware of their culture and tradition, therefore, screening of these short films to the students should be done to infuse the feeling of pride in one’s identity.”

KT Sukhalu stressed the need of counselors for students to mainstream the students into the right line of thinking and overall development; and mentioned that teachers also play an important role to take responsibility for molding the students into leaders for the future generation.

The Commissioner & Secretary of School Education & SCERT – Kevileno Angami, noted that “culture is our identity, and a person who does not know one’s culture is ignorant, therefore, it is important that we teach our children the knowledge of our state, cultural practices, and the history.”

She also said that SCERT has come up with the Nagaland Heritage textbook which helps children to learn the dialect and language, cultural practices, and poems of different tribes, and with the release of the Nagaland Heritage-based films, it would supplement what is in the textbook.

The Director of SCERT – N. Chumchanbeni Kikon said the Nagas’ rich cultural heritage, can be successfully preserved if only they value it, document it, and transmit it to the next generation.

She added that SCERT Nagaland has documented a total of 15 Naga heritage-based short films, out of which three were released in the year 2020. The 12 Nagaland Heritage-based short films are based on customs, practices, values, and different aspects of Naga culture which are drawn from the school subject “Nagaland Heritage Studies”.

Kikon asserted that SCERT Nagaland is the first SCERT in the country to introduce the course for Diploma in School Counselling on 2nd April 2018.

A total of 38 trainees from the 3rd batch were conferred the Diploma degree and oath-taking was administered by the Advisor who also released the 12 Nagaland Heritage-based films. Meanwhile, 31 candidates were also inducted into the course as the 4th batch during the programme.