IMPHAL, September 25: `Our State is chock-a-block with problems and bandhs. On the average blockades happen every two or three months`™ denying even a respite to the people, inducing a degenerative effect on the education sector. So, the students`™ bodies must rid education from such disturbances`, stated Education minister M Okendro while speaking at a one day seminar on Culture as an Agent of Social Integration.
The seminar was organised by the Kuki Students`™ Organisation General Head Quarters with assistance from the Tribal Research Institution (TRI) at the Kuki Inn to bring unity and integrity among the hills people and the valley peoples.
`Such seminars might help in retaining the sense of unity and integrity that existed between the hills and valley people since the time of our ancestors. Unfortunately, there is only hate between communities these days`, the Education minister said.
Appealing to the people to rid education from all disturbances and the students`™ bodies to make sure that it was maintained, he said there will be a time when people will regret doing nothing when the education system was put at risk.
Let`™s hope that some resolutions are taken at this seminar, Okendro said appealing for the submission of the resolution to the government so that it might help the government in framing policies for the education sector.
Rural Development and Panchayati Raj minister Francis Ngajokpa speaking as a guest of honour at the seminar said: `Our students are occupied with petty issues of reservation and other schemes by neglecting to compete with students from other states in nationwide examinations like UPSC or other competitive examinations.`
`We have a pleasant weather and a climatic condition better than that of Switzerland but there is a big difference between us and the people of Switzerland in the way we think and behave. They are more developed as they attract more tourists whereas we have destroyed what nature has given us with our own hands,` Ngajokpa added.
Stressing that people of Switzerland are more hard working and unified, he said people in this small State are divided over so many issues and reservation should be done away with as we have come a long way now.
In his key note address, the KSO general head quarters president said Manipur was comparatively peaceful till recently with its unparalleled charm and exotic flora and fauna, its undulating plains and fertile valley surrounded by verdant green hills and its pleasant climate.
We know that mutual distrust, rivalry for preservation of identity, disparity in economic conditions or standard of living, and a sense of alienation now prevalent among the three main ethnic groups Meitei, Kukis, and Nagas have ruptured the idyllic social mosaic that Manipur was, he added.
He further said that in order to protect and promote their own identity and culture, each group has put social integration on the backburner so as to further their own interests. Each group is not willing to see the larger picture of promoting their own culture and identity without compromising on social integration. Peace, unity, integrity and progress are the quintessential aspects of social integration. Without social integration, there cannot be development and growth. It is the duty of everyman to protect and safeguard his ethnicity.
The need of the hour for us is to explore remedial measures to make amends to the harms that we have inflicted upon ourselves as citizens. The essence of our programme is to find ways of becoming agents of social integration and also to safeguard our established identifies at the same time as we have done before, he adds.