New Education for new Manipur 5

You are here: Home » education » New Education for new Manipur

E-Pao! Education - Completely new education for a new Manipur - 5

Completely new education for a new Manipur
— With special reference to the hills —
Part 5

By: T. Vunglallian *

The Arts Scene: Having aired the above about the science stream, it is equally true to say that the failure of arts education, in the hills, lies entirely in the court of tribal teachers, because, all said and done, there are just too few Meitei Arts Teachers actually posted in the hills.

This tribal shame and burden is a cross the tribal teachers bear and have to resolve, the sooner the better.

Note:

(i) It is the considered opinion of this writer that under the present service conditions there isn't any chance to correct the horrible and criminal imbalance(s) mentioned above.

In fact, whatever correction/changes for the better that are desired, can only come about with the introduction of the two policies of - Two Separate Services, and the accompanying, Life-time Service in one institution.

(ii) This writer makes no apologies for being blunt, because, he sees the prevailing negligence of duty by Government teachers working on hill or in valley... as treating the under-privileged students as children of a lesser God!

Don't they know that the deprived students are none but their own less privileged sisters and brothers... who have nowhere else to go for an education... except to Govt schools and colleges... and no one else to turn to but their own kith-and-kin-government-teachers!

Third: Teacher shortages are the result of bad/wrong appointment, posting and transfer policy

An analysis shows that the prevailing acute shortage of teachers in both schools and colleges in the hills is the result of decades of one-way transfers. One-way, where replacements never came!

But, to be fair to the teacher seeking transfer, she/he may have "served faithfully" for one or two decades in the hills and, therefore, now deserves to move closer home, especially when such a consideration is as good as an 'understood' policy strengthened by sympathetic ears and willing hands.

Anyway, the point being driven home is that ... the cause and culprit of this terribly unfair, and in-excusable situation of acute shortage of teachers in the hills, is the Government's bad, wrong and inappropriate appointment, posting and transfer policy, in so far as teachers are concerned.

What is being implied is that for all other Government servants the existing policy is most appropriate, and a must. But, for Government teachers the policy is bad and should be replaced by a completely new policy.

Suggested New Policy: It is suggested that for appointment, posting and transfer of teachers (both schools and colleges) the vital thing about the proposed new policy is that a teacher be appointed for a particular school/ college only;

that she/he shall then spend her/his entire service years in that one particular school/college... for it was the post she/he would have knowingly applied for and, if qualified, get selected for by the appropriate service. Period.

Hence the following proposals:

(i) Appointment: Whenever vacancies arise the MHES and MVES should advertise for a particular school's/ college's vacant teacher post(s). This means - the post(s) advertised should be subject and school/college specific. In this way, only those applicants willing to serve for her/his entire service period (30 plus yrs) in that one school/college would apply. Case closed.

(ii) Posting: Once selected for the said advertised post, the selected teacher then joins her/his place of posting, knowing fully well that the posting is once and for all. (There being, thus, no question of pleading ignorance, because the applicant would have applied for the specific post and particular place as advertised by the MHES/MVES for a specific school/college).

(iii) Transfer: As the appointment and posting under the new policy is school/college specific, the question of transferring would automatically never ever arise again, This would automatically make today's problem of teacher shortage (because of one-way transfers or that of several teachers occupying one post etc.) never ever again arise.

Note: The idea behind having two separate services, independent i.e. separate Ministers, Directorates and officials etc. is to sustain this non-inter-transferability for the sake of good education. Critics have to accept that the present system is not going to change anything, and so realize the merit of this writer's proposal(s)!

Consequently, all the kinds of records that the government loves to keep would be reduced - as if by magic - to one hundredth of what it is today. Paper work in the Departments would plummet and make record keeping easy to make, maintain and access.

In fact, the need for clerks and SOs, ADs, Jt. Ds, Dy. Ds would decline sharply. And in their place more teachers could be employed, within the same resources ... to do what the department of education is supposed to do, i.e. teaching!

And in their place more teachers could be employed, within the same resources... to do what the department of education is supposed to do, i.e. teaching!

Important Side Benefits: One can, thereafter, picture that it would be very easy to find out which teacher is/was/ where, and even know when she/he would be retiring.

This would enable replacements be planned for, in such a way that the replacing teacher could work for some weeks with the retiring teacher to ensure a smooth transition... all for the good of the students and the institution (and Manipur).

Most of all, with transfers gone for good, Manipur would, by a fairly large percentile figure, become less corrupt and waste less time, energy and resources. Thus, one can hope to see less of corruption, manipulation, court cases, agitations and an end to the Department's left hand not knowing what its right is doing.

Further, the failed policy of rationalization of school and college teachers – a non-starter exercise right from the beginning – would be buried once and for all, along with many other red-taped nuisances.

The hidden truth about transfer and posting:

Now, many who hear/read the above proposals shall react by protesting themselves hoarse, that the suggestions are preposterous; that they are government servants and that government servants are and must be transferable.

They shall appear to be shocked, as if hearing something new, bizarre and ridiculous. This writer would like to tell everyone that necessity is the mother of invention, and that there is hardly anything new in the proposals, even though he calls for new education in a new Manipur!

And so the writer says: If we care to go to any government school or college (in the hills or the valley), it will be found that over 95% of the staff of a school or college, begin and end their careers in the same institution where they started their careers!

e.g.: In the last three years, from Churachandpur College seven teachers retired on superannuation. All of them began and ended their service in Churachandpur College itself. Also, in the last year, 3 teachers retired from Lamka College.

They too began and ended their service in Lamka College.

Same is the case in Govt schools and colleges all over Manipur, with extremely rare exceptions.

Read Part 1 | Read Part 2 | Read Part 3 | Read Part 4 | Read Part 5 | Read Part 6 | Read Part 7 | Read Part 8 | Read Part 9 | Read Part 10 | Read Part 11 |

T. Vunglallian wrote this article for The Sangai Express. The writer is a retired Lecturer of Churachandpur College. This article was webcasted on November 14th, 2006.

* Comments posted by users in this discussion thread and other parts of this site are opinions of the individuals posting them (whose user ID is displayed alongside) and not the views of e-pao.net. We strongly recommend that users exercise responsibility, sensitivity and caution over language while writing your opinions which will be seen and read by other users. Please read a complete Guideline on using comments on this website.