Creating vacuum for others to rush in ? Students at the forefront
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: January 15, 2021 -

It is a given that whenever any vacuum is created, then nearby forces will rush in to fill the vacuum and it is this truism that The Sangai Express had repeatedly asserted while explaining why it was natural for others to rush in and fill the vacuum in the labour market when the demand for ILPS or a similar mechanism to check the inflow of non-locals was at its peak.

Now juxtapose this to other situations and it is there for one and all to see.

This is what may be seen in the very act of DESAM to lock the office of the Secretary and Controller of Examination of the Board of Secondary Education, Manipur to protest the failure to appoint officers to the two said posts after the retirement of the incumbent officers.

According to DESAM, the two posts have been lying vacant since December 28 after the retirement of the two officials and logic says that once an officer or a Government employee retires the officer next in line should automatically assume charge.

What is the logic in failing to appoint the next person in line is the question that may well be raised.

Or is it a case of the Government not taking education with the seriousness it deserves ?

Not a pleasant reality by any stretch of the imagination and this is all that more so given the fact that many States across the country have started gearing up to conduct the Class X examinations.

How can BOSEM be expected to gear itself up for the Class X examinations in the absence of two key officials ?

Or is it going to be a case of the two officials who have already reached the age of superannuation being retained and asked to continue ?

So even as DESAM rushed in to fill the vacuum created by the officialdom refusing to act and do what is expected of them, students of DM College of Arts shut down the college and Dhanamanjuri University denouncing the decision of the Government of transfer two teachers and went to the extent of locking the office of the Principal.

Cannot accept the transfer of the two teachers when the college is facing shortage of teachers, is a line maintained by a student leader of the college and while students should not interfere in the transfer and posting policy or decision taken by the authority concerned, this was not the first such protest in Manipur.

The transfer is ill timed, according to the students explaining that the COVID-19 induced lockdown had affected the academic pursuit of the students.

Plus there was the stand off between the teachers and DMU authority regarding fresh recruitment and transferring two teachers at this point of time when the college has just re-opened will adversely affect the students, is the line of reasoning adopted by the students.

This is where the Government will need to treat the matter with sensitivity for while it stands that students should not involve themselves in the transfer and posting of the teaching faculty, it still needs to be asked why such a ‘trend’ seems to have appeared.

This is where the Government will seriously need to study how such a mindset can and should be addressed.

Or is it a case of the Government failing to meet the needs of the students ?

Either way this needs serious thoughts.