Manipur is in the grip of multiple crises again. This time unfortunately the eye of the storm is on education, both at the school as well as at the college levels. On the one hand, is the serious matter of many students from Manipur studying in schools claiming affiliation to the Central Board of Secondary Education, CBSE, facing the prospect of being debarred from sitting in the upcoming crucial examination of the board on account of their schools`™ claimed affiliation to the board turning out to be dubious if not altogether bogus. The problem was expected and the government should have been prepared. With private schools proliferating and often becoming nothing more than lucrative businesses, all because of the almost complete quality collapse of the government`™s own schools ensured by decades of corrupt practices and maladministration, foul play by the unscrupulous businessmen should have been anticipated and precautionary measures taken. But for long, a good section of the officialdom itself was party to many of these money spinning fraudulent practices, wallowing in the unholy lucre from such collaborative robberies, so what else could have been expected. The casualties unfortunately will be students, and according to some, almost 2500 of them. Tragedy indeed! The government has two things to do on the matter. First try and save the students from losing a precious year, although it does seem chances for such a resolution are remote now. Second, and equally important, cleanse the system. It must weed out all fraudulent schools from the state within the next few months. Pyrrhic though it may be, the only consolation, if any, is that many of the students who sought admission in these schools would have done it knowingly in the hope of playing along in the fraudulence to score good grades without working.
The other crisis of gravity threatening the education sector is a strike by a section of the state college teachers. From news reports it is clear they are not only registering their dismay in a voluntary democratic way, but also prohibiting other teachers who have not joined the strike from taking classes. Here too, the ultimate casualties would be hapless students who are likely to find themselves utterly unprepared when their annual exams approach, for absolutely no faults of theirs. We have no issue with the striking teachers. Although we have not seen the entire list of their grievances with the government, we certainly do not approve their approach. Let them fight for their rights, sit and negotiate or else bargain with the government for their profession`™s uplift, boycott the government, stage hunger strikes Sharmila fashion, self immolate if they will outside the State Assembly, but even while this fight is on, at no cost they can be justified in allowing their students to suffer. They must realise, the very basis of their profession, is the welfare of students. Without the students, their profession has no meaning. They can win or lose their demands from the government, but they cannot at any cost forsake the students`™ future, for this would be like the doctor boasting an operation is successful, though the patient is dead. All religion will agree too that there can be no greater sin than this. Indeed, those who have read the Bhagavad-Gita will remember, this is exactly what Krishna tells Arjuna, reminding the warrior that doing his duty is what salvation is about. The government and the striking teachers in the meantime must urgently sit across the table and resolve this crisis.
Yet again, the campuses are literally on fire. At the premier DM College, students went on rampage yesterday to protest government apathy of their college campus, and the dilapidated condition of the roads within the campus. At the Manipur University too, students made bonfire of their hostel furnitures protesting neglect of their plight, and similarly, students at the Indira Gandhi National Tribal University are also restive protesting similar neglect. We join the protestors to call upon the government to pay urgent heed to these complaints. In the meantime, let the protesting students be cautioned too that whatever the grievances are, and how much so ever these are justified, let them not end up shooting themselves in the foot. Destroying properties of their own institutes can only deepen their miseries in the long run.
Leader Writer: Pradip Phanjoubam