New Education for new Manipur 4

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E-Pao! Education - Completely new education for a new Manipur - 4

Completely new education for a new Manipur
— With special reference to the hills —
Part 4

By: T. Vunglallian *

One vision for holistic education: A unitary approach

Before going into the nitty-gritty of the separate Services, it would be appropriate to explain why and how schools and colleges must be brought together, so that the schools and colleges of the hills come under MHES, and those schools and colleges of the valley come under MVES.

First, this marriage of schools to colleges is altogether different from the prevailing system where the Govt schools of the State, located both in the hills and the valley, are controlled and managed by the Department of Education (Schools).

Similarly, the Department of Education (U / Hr.Ed.) controls and manages all the 25 (general education) government colleges of both the hills and the valley of Manipur. Judging by the real state of education in Manipur, both Departments seem to have not much of a clue about what is actually happening in their schools and colleges!

Second, those of 'higher' education are very fond of talking about quality education, and talk of the likes of Vision 2010/20 and so on.

Actually, no matter how much they talk and plan and recommend in seminars and conferences and Commissions, all will come to naught, because they do not seem to realize the obvious ... that Manipur's school education seriously affects Manipur's 'higher' education. And vice versa!

Third, and equally important, whatever plans the managers of "higher education" make, whatever visions they conjure up for themselves ... the plans and visions cannot (and must never) start mid-way.

Or at the later stages, as is being talked of and done today ... viz. when seminars are held on quality education the focus is only on the +3 stage! And this is precisely why the vicious cycle of bad schools and terrible colleges and ever worsening schools ... go on and on!

Therefore, what is needed is ... the vision and the planning must be absolutely clear, clean and flowing ... right from Nursery class, through the 5th, 10th, 12th and 15th classes i.e. BA/BSc. (We will leave out the 16-17th i.e. MA/MSc classes, as beyond the purview of this paper.

The above unitary nature of continuous and wholesome education naturally leads one to look at the whole as: "holistic education: Unitary Approach".

Holistic and Unitary involve a seamless and symbiotic merging of school and college education into one "wholesome progression, and department", wherein, over and above the flowing academic content, in the case of Manipur, the complete control and management of all the schools and colleges in the hills of Manipur must come under the Department of Manipur Hills Education, while all the schools and colleges of the valley must come under the Department of Manipur Valley Education.

It is as simple and easy as that... and that the two Services be created and maintained separate and independent of each other.

(Note: This writer is not ever suggesting that the above separation will be simple and easy, and devoid of problems. He is saying that the old system is not ever going to work, and so the new system - with whatever problems it comes - will be a more effective and pro-active way to a brighter educational future, especially for the hills of Manipur. After decades of unfairness, the hills deserve that chance... a fair deal.)

Important benefits of separate services

First: Strength through simpler management:

The first and foremost benefit of the proposed separate Services is that its obviously simple, lean neat structure will provide both strength and efficiency, hence easier and more effective management, to say the least.

Second: Checking Teacher Absenteeism in the Hills:

Absenteeism is the curse of Government schools and colleges. This is a phenomenon that exhibits itself more and more as one moves further and further from the capital of Imphal, or, in the hills, from the district headquarters.

The tragedy is that the movement talked of here is not a matter of 200 or 300 km. away from the centre, as it could perhaps be in a big state like UP, but – in Manipur - it is a matter of a mere 5 or 10 km! This fact heightens the shame.

The Science Scene: The biggest impediment to education in the hills of Manipur is the acute shortage of science teachers. The editorial of The Sangai Express, dated 9th November, 2002 says it all:

"Shocking it may sound, but as the two student bodies (ANSAM and KSO) disclosed, of the 824 Science Graduate Teachers employed with the Government, 663 are posted in the valley areas while only 161 teachers are posted at the five hill districts...... We may also ask how many of the 161 teachers posted in the hills have actually joined duty."

It is sad to say, but this situation has not changed for the better since 2002, because all hill organizations are still complaining, sending memoranda and signing MoUs after MoUs, and are still, ultimately, forced to carry out economic blockades and numerous forms of protests over the same issues.

All of these protests and MoUs have been of so little meaning that, as a result, tribal protests are half-hearted in exhibition but intensely heart-felt deep inside. It is a potential tsunami.

Anyway, the point being developed is: What is the rationale behind a state government allowing a 2,200 sq. km. valley to have 663 (80.46%) of all Govt science graduate teachers... while 20,000+ sq.km. of hills have 161 (19.54%) only? The only reasons that can come up are bad ones.

It is, therefore, relevant to point out that in the blaming game, the blame for the failure of mathematics and science teaching, in the hills, rests squarely on the shoulders of Meitei maths/science teachers, who, almost without exception, do not like to reside in the hill towns and villages where their schools, or colleges, are located.

Now before all the above sounds like community-bashing, let us keep in mind two facts:

That there are very very few tribal science graduate/post-graduate teachers. And, what amounts to the criminal is that the chances of more being produced are very very little... because the Hills have been and are deliberately deprived of good science teaching.
Ironically, the Meitei maths/science teacher engaged in a private hill school/college is available all the time, whereas the government appointed Meitei maths/science teacher is more absent than present!

Illustration

Let us take the example of Churachandpur College to further illustrate whatever has been said... to doubly prove and, perhaps, rub salt on wounds:-

Churachandpur College, today, has 13 Regular Meitei teachers and seven Part Time Meitei teachers, i.e. 20 out of a total of 48 teachers. Of the 13+7= 20 Meitei teachers of Churachandpur College not one resides in Churachandpur, the proclaimed 2nd town of Manipur!

Incidentally, Churachandpur College, with 48 teachers, has been having an enrolment of 1100 to 1500 students, offering +2 and +3 with Arts and Science streams (Gen. & Hons.), for the last many years.

It is most pertinent to point out here that Imphal College with 1200 students has 93 teachers; GP Women's College with 1397 students has 107 teachers; DM College of Arts with 1298 students has 75 teachers; DM College of Science with 1253 students has 136 teachers; Ideal Girls' College with 43 students has 56 teachers; M.B. College with 70 students has 47 teachers; Oriental College with 257 students has 84 teachers... and the unfairness goes on and on!

Now a simple calculation of the numbers supplied by TSE on April 20, 2006 reveals that ... the valley's 18 general government colleges have 1249 teachers (Regular and PT) while the hill's seven colleges have 258.

Or, that 82.88% of all of Manipur's government lecturers serve in the valley, as against 17.12% being posted in the hills. Of whom, how many actually live in their place of posting, is better left un-asked! Suffice to say, it is no wonder there is a growing divide!

If the above is the case of Churachandpur College, in Manipur's Second Town, one need not bother to hazard a guess for the other hill colleges at Chandel, Motbung, Ukhrul, Tamenglong or Tadubi. Their condition would only go to show an unholy and bordering-on-the-criminal bias by the managers of education against the hills!

In spite of what he has just said, this writer admires and salutes the extremely few and exceptional Meitei science/maths teachers who have, literally, made a home of their place of posting.

Some have even married locally and settled in the hills.
(They are what this writer calls the true integrationists ... without proclaiming to be one. May their tribe increase!)

Read Part 1 | Read Part 2 | Read Part 3 | Read Part 4 | Read Part 5 | Read Part 6 | 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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