Kohima, Nov. 23: Nagaland has decided to introduce Hindi in Class IV from the next academic session as part of a new catch-them-young strategy to increase proficiency in the national language.

School education minister Imkong Imchen today said introducing the language in Class I was the best way to go about teaching the language in school. ?We ultimately settled for the descending pattern. Every year henceforth, the subject will be introduced one level lower.?

Imchen, who was the chief guest at a Hindi Divas function here recently, said introducing the language to students ?late in school? was not the correct way to go about it.

The government has already written to the Union ministry of human resource development to allocate more funds for the project.

Imchen said the bulk of the funds would be required to procure textbooks and recruit more teachers for the subject. Getting teachers proficient in Hindi has proved to be a difficult task in the state, where Hindi is spoken extensively but not taught properly. When the Nagaland Public Service Commission held interviews recently to recruit 200 Hindi teachers, only 40 qualified.

?Had more teachers qualified, I would have appointed them all. There is a dearth of Hindi teachers in the state,? the minister said.

In another development, the government has set up a committee to suggest a new examination evaluation system for schools. ?The idea is to improve the chances of students from Nagaland getting admission to major institutions outside the state.?

Under fire for the delay in distribution of free textbooks among students of government schools, the minister expressed concern about the ?long Christmas vacation? of education department employees. He said most of them would be spending the whole of December and January in Dimapur, adding to the delay.

The school education department intends to issue a directive to all employees to ensure that textbooks are distributed by the end of January.

BSNL bills

Drawing flak for increasing complaints in the cell phone segment in Nagaland, the BSNL said its outstanding bills in the state amounted to over Rs 20 crore.

Deputy general manager, Kohima, Anita Johri said post-paid consumers had not paid outstanding bills worth over Rs 20 crore. Sources said it included unpaid amounts by the state government, including ministers and bureaucrats.

Over 20,000 consumers complained of ?one-way communication?. When a number is dialled from a cell phone, mainly in Kohima, the call is connected but sound travels only one way, they complain.