Education system spruce-up proposal merits consideration
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: May 27, 2022 -

THE submission of a 12-point charter of demands by All Manipur Students' Union (AMSU) to education minister Thounaojam Basanta seeking to improve quality of education in the state testifies that the education system still has vast rooms for improvement.

While the demand/proposal for increasing the budgetary allocation in order to improve infrastructure of educational institutiohs definitely merits serious consideration, it is unlikely that there would be any dramatic fund hike for infrastructure development in view of the state's unhealthy financial position.

Some crucial administrative posts such as registrar and controller of examinations for Dhanamanjuri University either left vacant or entrusted to in-charges also needs to be remedied so that student activists do not resort to agitation on such issues as well as to facilitate students to pursue their academic goals in a congenial environment.

The Union's demands also ranged from proposing to the minister for implementing Manipur Private School Registration and Regulation Act 2017 and making proper guidelines for filling up vacant posts of SCERT director, regular principal and headmasters of government colleges and schools and taking up School rationalisation measures to maintain a proportionate teacher-student ratio.

The other demands include revision of the current practice of utilisation of teachers; assignment of bureaucrat officers in different educational institutes; introducing inter-district public transport services to ensure affordable transport service to students; solving the unemployment issue to some extent by opening skill development and vocational training courses in various colleges; establishment of more community colleges; and taking up steps to instil Manipuri nationalism among the upcoming generation.

Among the demands, the education minister might fret over the proposal for promoting the spirit of nationalism through singing of the state song up to high school level and to print the same on the back cover of the books prescribed by BSEM as there is a tendency for community/tribe based organisations to raise objections against any endeavour to promote Manipuri (Meeteilon, to be precise) language and script, unmindful of the fact that Meeteilon is the lingua franca of the state.

While almost all the aforementioned proposals underscore lapses or oversight on the part of the establishment to address the core problems besetting the education system, AMSU's demand for introducing public transport services in sufficient numbers citing hesitancy by private transport operators to accommodate students due to the lower fare charge should be accorded importance.

For many middle class families affording the school van/bus fee levied by private parties, albeit approval of the school authorities, has been taking a huge toll.

Contrary to education seen as a route out of deprivation for the non-affluent section of the society, there is enormous pressure on the parents in managing the monthly van/bus fare, not to speak of the high monthly fee in private schools.

Thus, pending overall improvement in the standard of government schools, which would be one of the means to stem the waste of money spent on private schools, it is wished that the education minister consult the department officials and explore which points of the AMSU's proposals could be implemented without delay.