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Front Page >> Features  > Story

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Education For Posterity
By Tuisem A. Shishak
In his published news item, in a local newspaper, Th. Dhamen advocates a strangely one-sided and obviously motivated approach to the problems in the field of high school education in Manipur. He is concerned with the loss of revenue to the Manipur State. He is not at all concerned about the sub-standard high school education which the State Board provides. I wish to react to this kind of self-interested and selfish outlook on education.

Poor, illiterate parents even in the remotest corners of the globe today know the importance of quality education and are willing to sacrifice everything they have for their children’s education. But in Manipur the Board of Secondary Education (BSEM) seems to think otherwise.

Th. Dhamen’s article, "Students abandon Manipur board, schools to seek CBSE affiliation," in one daily on September 11 is rather amusing. If Dhamen is a paid spokesperson for BSEM, I can understand his article better. But if he is reporting on his own, he certainly lacks intellectual maturity. His article was purely descriptive with several factual errors, simply reporting whatever BSEM wanted him to say. There was no analytical consideration at any point.

Any journalist worth his salt would surely have raised some objections to the illogical and illegal steps that BSEM and the State Education Department have decided to take in order to prevent schools from being affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) or the Indian School Certificate Examination (ISCE). Based on Dhamen’s article there appear to be two reasons, both flimsy, why the education department has stopped issuing "no-objection certificate" to schools seeking affiliation to CBSE or ISCE or any other education board outside the State:-

1. There has been a sharp decline in student enrolment in State schools, and

2. Decline in enrolment in the HSLC exams has hurt the Board’s revenue.

The next point presented by Dhamen is even more amusing. According to him, the reason for Manipur schools seeking affiliation to CBSE and ISCE is that the latter’s exams are "more liberal and easier to score in", indicated by the fact that "thirty plus schools had applied for no-objection certificates for affiliation to the CBSE or the ISCE." The people of Manipur, apart from Dhamen, the BSEM, and the State Education Department, will readily admit that CBSE and ISCE are superior to any State board of education, let alone that of Manipur. I’m sure the overwhelming majority of our IAS and Allied Services officials and most of our well-known professionals such as doctors, engineers, scientists, and lawyers are graduates of CBSE- and ISCE-affiliated, and other private schools, not Government schools.

The performance of Manipur schools in the 2002 HSLC exams was miserably poor: 21% passed. Out of 215 Government schools, 68 schools had nil result. Of the 32 students in the top 25 positions, 27 were from mission schools. (See Nagaland Page, June 14, 2002, p. 3.) What about this year’s Manipur HSLC exam results? Based on information from the same daily of June 4 and 11, only 23% passed. Of the 10,844 candidates from Government schools, only 1,164 passed. Of the 207 Government schools, 75 had nil pass, and 35 have only one pass each. Students from private schools captured all the top 25 positions. The caption is read as: "Mission Schools Shine." Honestly, who is responsible for providing decent education to the children of Manipur today? Do the common people really hate mission and private schools? On the one hand, some under-ground organisations want mission schools (especially Catholic) to be closed down; on the other, the Manipur Government will not permit good private schools to seek affiliation with the best school boards in India.

I don’t live in Manipur but I know thousands of Meitei, Mayang and Naga children even in the Imphal Valley are being denied their right to good education due to moral corruption in high places. You don’t have to be godly to shed tears when you see hundreds of poor families whose children have the potential of becoming educated like your sons and daughters but have to be content with rotten Government schools due to poverty.

"Cursed is the man who withholds justice from the alien, the fatherless or the widow." (The Bible). Tribals say Meiteis are really corrupt. I am not sure if tribal Government officials are doing better; I personally know several Tangkhul Government officials who are very corrupt, and I am ashamed of them. They ought to be much less corrupt because they claim to be Christians. The cry of the poor and marginalized in Manipur is: "Let justice roll down like a river, and righteousness like a never-failing stream" (The Bible).

Come now, let us reason together. If you know anything about education, you can’t really convince the public that CBSE and ISCE exams are "more liberal and easier to score in." Whom are you trying to fool? Do you expect any thinking person to believe your claim? In Nagaland State, Government schools also produce poor results in HSLC exams, but in all fairness we must admit that they are doing better than those in Manipur. 51% passed in the 2003 Nagaland HSLC exams. I’m sure the Nagaland School Board would recognize the quality education the CBSE and ISCE provide.

Another error in Dhamen’s article is the claim that "Central Schools... are meant for the wards of Central Government employees." The Navodaya (CBSE) School at Lambui (Ramva) in Ukhrul District is meant to provide quality education primarily to the rural poor, not for the children of Central Government employees, of which there would hardly be any at the Lambui School. Unfortunately, right now this school is a poor example of what Central Schools really are.

The Manipur State Education Department may legally deny Government schools the right to affiliate with CBSE or ISCE, but they have neither the moral nor legal right to prevent private schools from doing so. Government schools in other States are affiliated to boards outside their States. One case in point is the Pine Mount School in Shillong, a Meghalaya Government school, which is affiliated to ISCE. Is there anything wrong with that?

My real concern is this. If what Dhamen propounded in his article is the official position of the Manipur Board of Secondary Education and the Education Department, I want to raise the following issues:

1. Should not the Government of Manipur be talking about improving standards in education rather than talking about low student enrolment or making money? Could it be that the standard of education in Government schools is so pathetically low that private schools have mushroomed everywhere? Could it be that the BSEM has become so rotten educationally and morally that some of the best private schools have decided to seek affiliation to better and nationally-known school boards like CBSE and ISCE? I doubt very much if any Government school in Manipur has sought affiliation outside the State. Mind you, it is the best private schools that will seek affiliation outside BSEM because they want to do better. What is illegal or immoral about that?

If the BSEM were to maintain a decent academic standard, not many private schools would be wanting to function outside the state school board. Why don’t we wake up and begin providing decent education to the children of Manipur? Wouldn’t that be better than denying no-objection certificates to schools that want to move towards new frontiers in education by affiliating to the best school boards available in the country?

2. Will the Government’s refusal to issue no-objection certificates to private schools stand up in a court of law? What can the Government of Manipur do if the CBSE and ISCE ignore its objections and grant affiliation to Manipur schools? I would not be surprised if they do so. In the worst-case scenario, private schools can join hands in taking the Education Depart to court. I am sure the court’s verdict will be in favor of the private schools.

Delhi Public School (DPS) has already established its branch in Dimapur, Nagaland as well as overseas. Can the Manipur Government stop DPS from opening a branch in Imphal? 65 years ago I started my schooling in a one-room village schoolhouse. Some of my teachers had read up to class 3 or 4 only; the headmaster had finished class 8. By God’s grace, my three sons studied in Woodstock School, an international school in Mussoorie, North India. Most parents in Manipur can’t even dream of sending their children to Woodstock School. I am one of those "guilty" parents whose children have received a first-rate education while thousands of others have been deprived of their right to a decent education due to poverty and the utter insensitivity to the welfare of the people on the part of our politicians and bureaucrats.

Hence the least I could do to allay my guilt is to establish a little "Woodstock School" near my village (Shangshak) in Ukhrul District, which may never reach the status of the Woodstock School in Mussoorie, but which will be superior to any Government school, and many private schools, in Manipur in academics, and in the moral and spiritual arena. This little "Woodstock" is Patkai Christian Academy (PCA), located some 50 km. from Imphal, just beyond Finch Corner on the border road leading to Ukhrul. It was established in 2001 with 24 students and 5 teachers. Currently the Academy offers Classes 1-6 with 125 pupils and ten teachers. If the BSEM and the state education department (based on Dhamen’s report) claim that their schools are superior to CBSE and ISCE schools, they should first test PCA students. Patkai Christian Academy is one of those schools in Manipur seeking affiliation to ISCE, but the BSEM and Education Department are refusing to issue a no-objection certificate to us.

Let me try to sensitize corrupt Government officials, bureaucrats, and politicians by asking a few questions:

How many of you send your children to Government schools? (None?). How many of you send your children to private schools in and outside the state? (All?). How many of your children have studied or are studying in CBSE or ISCE schools? (Many?). I am told even Government school teachers send most (or all?) of their children to private schools. If you concur with my answers above, why do you deliberately avoid sending your children to Government schools? Your children fill the elite schools in Shillong, Delhi, other cities in India, and even overseas. And you refuse to issue "no-objection certificate" to those who love the poor and want to provide quality education by being linked to superior school boards outside Manipur. Shame on you! Be assured, your sin will find you out. The God of creation will judge you one day.

I think the time is long overdue for the people of Manipur to rise up against the selfish and narrow-minded bureaucracy at Imphal on this issue. Very often I feel that nothing short of revolution will clean up the mess the Government of Manipur is in, and the department of education is no exception. When I say "revolution" I mean "change" for the better. The people of Manipur must think and do something soon before it is too late to salvage the situation.

How then shall we revive the primary-elementary-secondary education system in Manipur? There is no easy panacea, but we must begin doing something concrete immediately. Let me suggest a few measures which even a poor Government can afford:

1. Let us start with more honesty and less corruption within the BSEM and the Education Department.

2. Provide blackboards, chalk and dusters to all Government schools.

3. Repair all the broken walls and leaky roofs of the school buildings so vagrant animals cannot take shelter there.

4. See that teachers who are teaching in hill areas do not go home every weekend nor remain absent most of the year, drawing their salary regularly from the Imphal education office. Whether they be Meiteis or tribals, such teachers should be dismissed.

5. Start recruiting academically qualified teachers; refrain from appointing teachers who are drunkards, drug addicts, or political activists. If we don’t teach values by example, education is nothing.

6. Give tests to all currently employed teachers. Dismiss those who fail. If the Government has enough funds, grant pension to all the unqualified teachers and get rid of them; in the long run you will be saving money and your neck.

7. Politicians and bureaucrats should stay out of educational administration; only professionals and scholars should handle education. Education is not a political football.

8. Any effort made by any group in Manipur to provide quality education should be welcomed with open arms. Therefore, it is in the interest of the people of Manipur that the State Education Depart should favorably consider applications by private schools for ‘no-objection certificate’ for affiliation to CBSE and ISCE.

Forgive me if I am unduly critical of the Board of Secondary Education, Manipur and the State Education Department. My frustration is that for too long the rich and the powerful have denied the poor their right to decent education and decent living. I want to see a future where quality education in Manipur State will be available to the poor and underprivileged and where merit and talent will be properly nurtured and encouraged.

(The writer is the Principal of Patkai Christian College, Ukhrul)

Courtesy: The Sangai Express

  

 

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