Education of children in Manipur

Mimi K. Insi *

Raising children to prepare them to master on the road to becoming a successful member of the future society is the responsibility of the parents and teachers is no doubt, generally accepted. Contributions of governments and communities to education of children , of course, is a must.

As we know that academics are important. Children need encouragement to pursue their dreams and it is the dream of every parent to see their children grow up well and become a perfect person of the society.

When an observation is made on present condition of education of children in Manipur, a large amount of efforts seems to be required to put in from the teachers and parents in upbringing children to be a good citizen of future world but it is surprising that parents and teachers are not even well acquainted each other.

We feel that this communication gap needs to be bridged up to build a better link between them and any serious problem related with children's studies can be solved easily. Parents' optimum involvement and active participation in children's studies is very essential.

I believe children will be happy to know that their parents care about their studies. Their maximum involvement in learning activities makes much difference to children. Paying regular attention to their studies helps them get good attendance, do homework assignment properly, show positive attitude towards school, good behavior and show excellent performance in their academics.

Children's academic success is more intimately related to parents' efforts. Often, parents need to check their children's strengths and weaknesses in all areas of the curriculum and whether their child socializes with other children or not.

In this regard, school needs to design more effective forms of communication to reach parents. Parents-teachers meeting and seminars on effective educational development programs can be conducted twice a year in the school campus. Views and opinions about education of children can be shared and exchanged. Suggestions from parents must be welcomed.

The time limit for each parent at the meeting can be about 10 to 15 minutes long. School personnel can be sent to deal with family issues when the serious matters come up in students. In this way a healthy bond between parents and school can be formed. Unluckily, such things are rarely seen in our schools in Manipur especially in government schools.

Most schools never experience what parents- teachers meeting is like. Most of the time parents are invisible. Only a few active parents who are really concerned about their children's studies observe them at home and help teachers in the school. Children are like clay in potter's hands. They can be molded into the desired shape the parents' wish.

Every step of the child needs to be supervised. They have to be handled with great care. It is necessary for the parents to maintain a healthy atmosphere at home during the early year of the children. If the parents are not readily available when the child needs them, this creates insecurity in him/her.

In my school, the class performance of a student in grade-IX was not up to the grade level all the time. When he was asked why he didn't concentrate on his studies and didn't do the homework everyday, he answered sadly that- he stayed with his maid all the time and parents went to work in the morning and came back at night at 9 P.M.

Parents didn't have the time to be with him. What will he learn from the maid? When he needs them, they are not there. This has led to the distancing of the parents and the children. We realized that it was not his fault. It was not the material comforts he expects from his parents but the love, affection and care that every child needs from the parents. He felt being unloved.

Because of the lack of parent's care and supervision the child was not motivated to learn any lesson in the school. There are so many cases like this happening so often especially in metropolitan cities where the career oriented women work leaving their children under the care of their maid servant. So, it is the duty of teacher to find out why the child is lagging behind others and then inform the parents.

There are many causes of students dropping out of school. We need to bring the solution to the cause by building a strong partnership with communities groups. We all know that the major impact of the drop out rate is a rise in crime that leads to insecurity of public life and uncertain future of individuals. As we already have witnessed our society being plagued by terrorism. This is the major consequence. Such malady can be minimized when the parents and teachers are prepared to enter a process of partnership in children's learning affairs.

Teachers can provide ideas and assistance to parents on how to help a child at home. Parents need to help the child do homework and repeat the work done in the class as a part of practice so that the child does not need to take extra tuition. At the same time child will feel being loved and cared .

All the teachers need to respond to the feelings and needs of the parents of children with disabilities. Children who are from low socio-economic status must be assisted by the school to overcome the obstacles and serious family issues faced by them. Government should give the financial assistance to the students who are from low socio economic status.

If any extra behavioral problem is encountered in any child, he/ she should not be ignored and should be taken to mentor or counselor with the cooperation of the parents. Mentoring program is also a good that many students can benefit from it. We have this program in my school too.

Every month this program is conducted. Teachers can provide information about the child's areas of weakness in studies to parents so that the child can put in more efforts for better results with the help of parents. This can be done through personal meeting with the parents, by phone or writing a note in the child's school diary. Students need to carry school diary everyday when they come to school because it helps them keep their time table and note down school homework. Teachers can write the important message to the parents.

This is an essential part of the school. Diary should include yearly calendar and dates of school events. School should provide this to the students. Most of the government schools don't introduce it yet to the students. Since library is a place for education and self help, all the students should take full advantage of opportunities available at libraries.

Library period should include in the school programs of teaching in schools in Manipur. For the primary level, Class teacher needs to take the students to the library during the library periods. The teacher-librarian known as information expert will guide them and educate them about the importance of information literacy so that children can become information literate to live successfully in today's information society.

In every locality, there needs to be a library so that local children can use the library on weekends and after school. It was an unwise act to burn the Manipur central library three years back by some people. Might be they forgot that, that is the place where the opportunity is available to all to make us become information smart people in this information age.

Besides having libraries, we need to have many extra curricular activities clubs. Children can join the activity they want after school or on weekends. The activity clubs can be run by private groups and government.

Teens loitering on the streets, in the bazaar and lanes can be given opportunities to engage to extracurricular activities because extra activities help students to make their own decisions and gain experience in a variety of areas that will enhance their future.

Moreover, it gives them opportunity to discover their hidden talents. Every society needs to shoulder the responsibility of providing a pleasant environment to the students.

Society needs to ensure that every child has access to a quality education. Sinful and dirty hands of politicians should be stopped from trying to push down the innocent children into the dark well.