There can be nothing of greater irony than the recent mega rallies that were taken out in several districts of the state under the call by a student organization to call for a “Disturbance free educational zone”. The rallies saw a large turn out of representatives of various other student groups, heads of groups and bodies related to educational institutions and even Government officials from the related sector, apart of course the students. While it is true that educational institutions in the state is one of the most ‘disturbed’ by external forces ranging from extortions to closures because of being caught in between different conflict trigger points, the other truism is that rallies organized by student groups also contribute to affecting the academic schedule of students and is a factor that disturbs the ‘free educational zone’. The truth of the matter is that schools and colleges and even the University in Manipur are largely impacted by the very nature of the unpredictable forces of social and political winds in the state with bandhs, strikes and curfews severely impacting on the necessary days of working days in educational institutions. In any given year, the number of working days in educational institutions in the state would have barely scraped through beyond the 100 day mark while in the rest of the country, the number goes beyond 200. The easier part is for student groups to organize rallies and sit in protests calling for educational institutions to be kept a free zone but when students who are meant to be sitting inside classrooms wave placards that call for students to be left alone to study, there are two readings of the situation. One is that the education sector is in a vulnerable state due to various political factors while the other is that the many groups that exist in the state with their claims of working for the well being of students of the state end up putting more roadblocks.
As long as students in educational institutions are herded out to streets out of their class rooms as a means of showing the strength of the many student groups existing in the state, there will not be any gains from all the calls being made for education to be kept as a free zone. The conflicting push and pull that different student groups exercise is best seen in what took place in 2009-1010 when educational institutions were shut for over four months following the stand taken by one student group that right to education is secondary to right to life. The face off took place following the BT road encounter that resulted in the death of a former UG cadre and a pregnant woman when intense agitations calling for Government action with regard to the encounter were aided by one particular student group that announce that all educational institutions be shut down to protest the killing. When another student group came forth after a continuous spell of all educational institutions being shut and classes suspended to say that students should head back to their classes, the first group did not take back their call. When the second group demanded that schools re-open, there were cases of a few schools being vandalized though it was never known who were behind the acts. And here-in lies the vulnerable nature of the education sector in the state, which will continue to remain so long as student groups are not agreed on whose side they are on and which areas they need to take a unified stand on.
Fast on the heels of the recent massive and simultaneous rallies, the media reports coming in of the ongoing bandh in the hill districts affecting the movement of people needing medical attention, the media trying to cover the impact of the bandh and creating obstacles in the movement of students is proof that not much has changed. Not much can change for the better till the time different stakeholders agree to leave the education sector as a free zone in reality and not use ‘free zone’ as a prop for shows of strength. If the Education sector is to be left free from social and political turmoil in the state, we would perhaps have gotten around to seeing a different face altogether. But the first steps towards keeping the Education sector going on proactively for students would have to start with keeping the interests of students as the only priority. It would have to begin with ensuring that students stay where they rightfully belong: in classrooms and in environments where they learn.