Annual journey beyond Manipur : Searching for education
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: June 10 2015 -

It is that time of the year again.

That time when thousands of students move outside the State to seek higher education, that is education at the college level.

Not the first time this has been commented upon and nothing to suggest that things will improve in the near future.

With different boards, such as the Council of Higher Secondary Education, Manipur (COHSEM), the Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations and the Central Board of Secondary Education announcing the results of Class XII, thousands of students must have already gone outside to pursue their college education.

Nothing new for this is what has been happening here for the last many decades. The trouble is no one seems to have given any serious thought to the pathetic state of education at the college level here.

From what elders have to say, DM College was at one time one of the more preferred colleges in the entire North East region.

This was when Manipur was under Gauhati University. The decline has been gradual but sure and the state of other colleges must be worse.

With teachers not accepting the fact that their primary job is to teach the young students, college education here is anything but education.

Upto the Class XII level the standard of education is passable, but then there is the growing need to go in for higher education and with colleges here failing to deliver the goods, parents, guardians and elders have to look beyond Manipur for the education of their children and wards.

For the well off parents, this may not be such an issue but then not all parents are well off and sending their kids outside is sure to drain them financially, mentally and physically.

If the Government has abysmally failed then there are others too who cannot escape the blame.

With numerous organisations, including student organisations, not averse to the idea of using students to pursue a demand or two, it is not surprising to see so many students taking to the streets when they should have been in their classrooms or libraries.

This has been the norm for the last many decades.

The casualty is obviously the young students who emerge from college with only half baked knowledge, making them unfit for employment, particularly in this age when excellence has become necessary.

Difficult to say when and if situation will improve but for the moment, numerous parents and elders will have to cope with the harsh reality.

This is where the young students who go outside need to come to the realisation that they are there to pursue education and return as fit men and women.

Situation, however cannot be allowed to go on like this for much longer.

Why should parents and elders have to fork out huge sum of money every month, just because the level of education at the college level is pathetic ?

Pressure should be mounted on the Government to do something constructive.

Pressure groups and society as a whole too need to be told that students should be left free to pursue their education as students ought to.

If schools can be competitive, there is no reason why colleges cannot be made more competitive. Think over this.