To cut a long story short
All the above points and counter-points vindicate and only strengthen all the proposals made by this writer, viz:-
- The absolute need for the creation of the two separate and very independent services viz. the Manipur Hills Education Service (MHES) and the Manipur Valley Education Service (MVES) to provide fair, competitive, holistic and wholesome education in the whole of Manipur.
- The absolute need for each teacher, under the two services, to begin and end her/his service in the very institution she/he applied for and was selected for, and posted to, in the first place.
- The key post of Headmistress/ Headmaster/ Principal/ Asstt. HM/ Vice-Principal etc. would automatically be in-house and in-line, as per the "Next-in-Line" policy, and not be a selection post from among the state's senior-most, hence from anywhere. Such a system would help these Heads have the courage and vision to pick up any gauntlet thrown down in their own areas/environment.
- The confinement of teacher and taught inside their respective campuses for 6 or 7 hours every working day from 9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. (a sample timing only) by locking the gates of the institutions! (The private schools and colleges have been and are doing it. The Manipur Secretariat tries to do it. Therefore, there is no reason on earth for government teachers to protest this!)
- And given the above equations, the greater challenge is for each appointed Govt teacher, each Headmaster / Principal to always up-grade and attain self-improvement in her/ his own time i.e. not at the cost of students' class time/academic session, while, all the time striving every day to be at her/his best... for the students ... for an entire service-life! That would be very very close to being an ojha ... a living, breathing exponent of the noble profession!
That ojha will be the fountainhead of the new education so much needed and help make the new Manipur that deserves to exist.
- That the managers and controllers – from Minister to Commissioner to Secretary to Director to AD/DD etc. - must make it a point to frequently visit and interact with students, teachers and the heads ... instead of trying to run schools and colleges by remote control and dealing with people through mountains of files.
- The managers and controllers of education – and the people of Manipur - must be ready to apply "perform or perish" and, where called for, close down or merge or downsize the number of schools and colleges for the sake of quality and a future. This painful process can be applied with a human touch, if objectivity and fairness is paramount and transparent. (The case of schools and colleges in hill areas would, naturally, have scaled down yardsticks and a different time-frame, among other dispensations.)
- That the University in whom is vested the power to affiliate/recognize/dis-affiliate/de-recognize colleges must exercise such powers in the real world and in real time. It should, also, pull up its socks and try to live up to the expectations of the whole state. It should make every effort to be in touch with its feeder colleges, their teachers and students. It would be great, and becoming, if it could set high standards, become a fair arbiter and torch-bearer.
- That, one and all, in spite of the terrible job crunch, begin to see teaching as the education-provider that can, actually, be the future job-provider by creating the man-and-idea-power for more and more jobs ... things to do ... in more diverse fields than in itself.
For an ending, and a beginning, one cannot help bringing in the much quoted lines ... quoted so often it is almost a trite saying today. But Manipur has to plan, plan, plan as says the quote, and then put all into practice ... for its own good:
"If you are thinking one hundred years ahead, educate the people.
By sowing a seed, you will harvest once.
By planting a tree, you'll harvest ten-fold.
By educating the people, you'll harvest one hundred-fold."
(Please share your views at: weeviews.blogspot.com where some of this writer's 2003 submissions to the Chairperson, Manipur State Higher Education Commission may be accessed.)
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Read Part 2 |
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Read Part 4 |
Read Part 5 |
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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.
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