IMPHAL July 1: Students and teachers of the Mission Blind School, Heikakpokpi, Chandel today took out a rally in the scorching heat shouting slogans against the apathy of the government to their demand for government recognition of their school and implementation of the repeated assurance from the authorities to upgrade it into a full fledge government institution.
They were however, blocked from proceeding towards the ongoing Assembly session by the State police.
The State has remained mute to our cries despite repeated verbal assurance from all levels including our Chief Minister, alleged K Pareng Kom, principal of the school.
We are the only operating blind institute in all the five hill districts of Manipur since February 2003, he said.
At present there are 55 students and 13 teachers in our institute and we do not charge any fees from our students, he continued.
Till date we are surviving on NGOs and public donation facing various hardships of both food and other basic needs. Assam Rifle has assisted us since 2005, however we face acute resource constraint and have not been able to pay our teachers for five years, he lamented.
He said, even among the disables we are at the most disadvantage and the State should have prioritized our needs but unfortunately, till date they have not extended any assistance.
He said, after repeated appeals and submissions, the Education minister assured us to upgrade our school into a full-fledged govt institution or provide grant.
The minister assured us that the case will be forwarded to the CM and a cabinet decision taken accordingly at the earliest, he said.
However, we have been left wanting without any significant progress on the issue. Such is the outrageous treatment of the State towards the blind people in the State, he said.