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Once again Manipur University is in the news and like before this time too the University is in the news for all the wrong reasons. As reported in the May 9 edition of this paper, some students and teachers have alleged that question paper for the Political Science final year exam was leaked to some ‘enterprising’ students, who obviously know the way in which the system of the University works.
It would be fair to mention that the Dean of Social Science of MU, Prof Ksh Bimola Devi had strongly denied the leak story and insisted that a new set of question paper was prepared after a conscientious student submitted the supposedly leaked question to her.
Her contention is simple. Since a new set of question paper was prepared, technically it cannot be said that the question paper had leaked. Prof Bimola may have a point here, but we are pained by the fact that the question paper submitted by the student contained similar questions with the ‘original question’ which led to the preparation of the fresh set of question. The question before us is not whether a new set of question was prepared and the ‘enterprising' student robbed of the opportunity to benefit from the leaked question paper but about how the question paper landed in the hands of some students in the first place.
Preparing a new set of question paper is at best a damage control exercise and does not answer the question why the University should be caught with its pants down. The present case is a classic example of the highest seat of learning in the State going to the dogs.
By any standard a university is a place for intellectual pursuits where ideas are exchanged, issues debated, policies discussed etc. It is not only a concrete structure of libraries and science laboratories and class rooms but a living, breathing structure where students and teachers from different backgrounds mingle and partake the food of knowledge. In many ways too it is the place where the brains of the next generation are molded and given shape.
It should be a place where conflicting ideologies intermingle, a place where different streams of thought converge to give birth to a new plane of thought best suited to the time and environment of the day. However all these noble concepts of what a university should be has been blown to smithereens by Manipur University and dare we add, MU today has come to signify the rot that has eaten into all the section of society and paralyzed the vital components of the Government machinery. Nothing could be more tragic than this.
It is the thoughts, the discussions and the new ideas from this university that should have a telling effect on the society as a whole but thanks to some rotten elements, MU on the contrary, instead of having a positive impact on the society has imbibed the ills afflicting the other spheres of the State. The allegations of leaked question paper are nothing but a reflection of the depth to which MU has sunk. For starters the university authority should probe the matter and fix responsibilities. We cannot allow some jokers to run the show at MU and escape with blue murder.
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