Soul-searching HSE 2014
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: May 15 , 2014 -

Even as the overall low pass percentage in the Higher Secondary Examination 2014 conducted by the Council of higher Secondary Education Manipur opens up many a room for introspection on factors responsible for the decline the fact that candidates from the hill districts fared appreciably deserve wholehearted applause from every section of the society for it is well known that hill district educational institutions are deprived of requisite infrastructure compared to the valley areas.

Regardless of infrastructure backwardness four out of the five hill districts making to the top five bracket in terms of producing maximum number of successful students indicate dedicated service by the teachers as well as hard work by the students.

While the teachers have without doubt justified faith reposed upon them by the students' parents that many positives could be expected from their children in the future, the students themselves showcased that atleast at the level of higher secondary education infrastructure alone is not the deciding factor but more importantly it is routine academic rigours and concentration to the task at hand that will ultimately decide their future.

Among the hill district too, candidates from Tamenglong district registering 90.2 pass percentage to occupy the third spot is even more heartening for this district has long been synonymous with under-development in many aspects.

One may also note that relative calm and agitation-free environment in the hill areas, contrary to bandhs and strikes in the valley pockets, is most suited to education and such friendly scenario might be a factor for maximum success of the hill district students. The collective success story of the hill area students will atleast deride the general assumption that examination monitoring mechanism is not that effective in the hills.

On the otherhand, overall dismal performance by the valley area candidates is hard to digest if one takes into account better educational infrastructure and private tuition avenues.

Number of school students in the valley districts, particularly Imphal East and West, zipping to their respective institutions in costly bikes and mopeds cannot be overlooked from the purview of ordinary performance at the HSE 2014.

This trend that has been multiplying in the last few years may not be favourable in the endeavour to promote quality education as need for students to ride bikes may not be necessary related to pursuit of educational excellence.

Gifted a bike a student will naturally look to spend more time on it and exploring the obvious that will gradually drive them away from their books.

The fact that HSE 2014 was conducted before the chaotic yaoshang festival and still candidates from the valley areas, where the festival is confined, is another cause for concern for in recent past celebration of the festival ahead of examinations was considered a nuisance affecting concentration to the academic chores.

Even more disturbing outcome of the HSE 2014 result is the huge disparity in the ratio of candidates from the twin capital districts who appeared in the annual rigours and the pass percentage.

With a number of well-equipped educational institutions as well as ever increasing private tuition centres it is naturally expected that students of Imphal will fare well in such examination.

Though students from the hill districts, particularly Ukhrul, deserve the loudest applause for their tremendous showing in the examination the decline in the overall success rate after a relatively appreciable performance in the past five years ultimately necessitates minute assessment in every aspect for the slightest delay in finding out the root cause of the collective failure stands to hamper initiatives to promote quality education in Manipur.