Dramas in Higher Education & Doldrums for Engineering Graduates in Manipur

Sanjenbam Jugeshwor Singh *

It's generally said that education up to Higher Secondary level in Manipur is to some extend considerable though majority of our students are not up to national Standards (as qualifying in IITs & getting within 1000 ranks in NEET by our students is rarely heard).

In fact bringing our students at least up to this level (in higher Secondary) is also the tooth and nail efforts of parents at Private Coaching centers as well as due to private tuition, at the same time by the private Schools.. Yes ,in terms of scoring good marks in HSLC as well as in HSSLC examinations seems to be improved but there is still a big question mark i.e. is scoring good marks in these examination is conformable with the quality that we expect?

Anyway, let us hope that quality may improve in the time to come soon. After 10+2 some students have Chosen career of their choice like Medical, Engineering, Agriculture, Nursing etc. etc. But this is very few out of many who passed 10+2.Majority of the students who did not opt theses career have to go for further studies in what we call general line i.e. BA , B.sc . Etc.

These are the people who are going to become teachers in the Schools, Professors in the Colleges and Universities as well as administrators of Our State. But the Higher Education system in our state is in a very bad and deplorable condition, (if I am not mistaken).

Teacher- Students relation seems to be stressed, coordination among teachers are not conducive and in many Institutions authoritarian act by the head of the Institution /Staff close to politician are seen.It is fact that except some Colleges in the greater Imphal and elsewhere classes in majorities of colleges in Manipur are not conducted regularly and smoothly.

If this is the situation, what will be the fate of our future generation? The dream that our Youths dreamt will be simply a "NIGHTMARE".

If the classes in the colleges continue in this manner, how can our youths be fit for any type of competitive examinations conducted (like UPSC, SSC, Banking, and Railways etc. which is the need of the hour for employment generation of our youths) in all India level? General people knows what is going on in most of the Colleges even if I don't explain further during exam time.

At the same time recent buzz about the exclusion of Manipur University in the ranking among the Indian Universities further escalate the apprehensions the fate of higher education in Manipur. Attention of all concerns is also high time to monitor the infrastructure, the quality and system of imparting technical education in all the technical institutions of Manipur.

My humble appeal to the students Organizations of Manipur is that kindly look into Education system in the colleges and technical institutions right from regular conduction of Classes, attendance of the students, smooth conduct of examination without unfair means as they do in HSLC and HSSLC examinations so that the quality of our youths may be in a better Position for a better future.

On the other hand in this age of hi-tech and era of ITes, what is the fate of many Engineering graduates in Manipur? Number of engineering graduates (even M.Tech/M.E) in Manipur is increasing like floods in the last decades and continuing the same trend still today.

In fact this is the sign of development in the field of Science and Technology in Manipur. But no development in this sector is visible yet. The question is why? Many young and dynamic Engineering graduates(some of them are excellence of international level) who are desirous to do something for this land are living like a lay man in frustration with no hope and no future.

Tireless efforts of parents to make them an engineering graduates with huge investment have become like a business of acute loss. All of us know that parents run here and there from dawn to dusk taking their wards for private tuition and coaching in the hope that their children will do well in examination and score good marks to be eligible for undergoing engineering course.

Yes ,children also tried all their best and did well in the examination and fulfilled the dreams of their parents. They underwent the said course, put the efforts at their wits end. In fact ,Engineering studies is not a joke as compare to other course of studies (I experienced as I was an Engineering student), it doesn't mean other courses are not tough.

After graduation, what where and how is the questions they themselves and their parents asked? But no answer yet in Manipur.

One reason I suppose, could be no factory, no industries no Institutions, no organizations nothing for them to work and to show their expertise. The flagship schemes like skill development, make in India, start up under PMKVY seems to be tiger on the paper as opined by many and generally said that these schemes are like 'operation success but patient dies' as suggested by many.

Answer from authority will be – Manipur is a land lock area, so heavy industries is not possible. If this trend continue, isn't appropriate to coin Manipur as the dumping ground of excellent engineering graduates and post Graduates as waste products?

Just to survive many such people are working in Private schools deviating their line of study in different directions. This, in fact is not the sign for development in our land. Government should choke out the plans and strategy to harness the endless potential of our youths for a better and highly developed as well as advance among other states of India.

Simply shouting in the public platform and theoretical analysis and discussion in the media will not help to transform into action and reality. It's high time for the government to take up serious and sincere action before its too late as today is the beginning of 20 year of 21st century.

It is said that "NO ATOM BOMB" is required to destroy a society, simply failure in education is enough to destroy a society.

Let's wake up now to free our youths from the "NIGHTMARE" in higher education in Manipur and formulate possible way to fit our high quality technical youths.