A rare insight into the life of an unsung hero
Source: Hueiyen News Service / Newmai News Network

Imphal, April 01 2011: How many of us are disturbed by the standard of education being made available to us, so much so that we have readily forgone lucrative careers to single-handedly work for its strengthening.

Dr Hunibou perhaps fits into that slot of rare human being endowed with the grit to overcome his own personal needs, let alone greed, in the quest for sensitivity and sensibility for the cause of universal human values rooted in "education" which is often touted as "the great leveler" .

Born into a poor family in a small hamlet in Langmei village under Tamei sub-division of Tamenglong district in Manipur on October 16, 1959, young Hunibou realized early in his life that the only way he could redeem himself from the god-forsaken situation of poverty and destitution was through education.

He is an extraordinary person in more ways than his benign attempt to reorient education for the benefit of the poor and the downtrodden.

For those of us who does not believe in miracles, this might come as a shocker.

Baby Hunibou miraculously came alive after being still-born moment before he was going to be consigned to his grave.

The whole family erupted in consummate jubilation! .

He had his early education in Tamei sub-division around the time when first and second divisions in high school leaving certificate (HSLC) exams were almost unheard of in the entire subdivision.

A common comic story of those days reflected a hard and mortifying reality of the standard of education prevalent there: a HSLC aspirant from Tamei subdivision would invariably attempt to gloss over the results bottom-up without daring to see if it appeared among the "inaccessible" first division because of the obvious reason that it was simply, well, "lofty" .

He however pursued his education with the temperament of a thinking man, determined despite all odds, going on to pursue his Ph.D from the intellectual bastion, North East Hill University (NEHU) in Shillong.

While being a research scholar there, he doubled up as a research associate.

He however resigned from NEHU after having completed his doctorate degree in the year 1992, rearing to change the sub-standard education of his home prefecture which was largely a pedagogic negligence coupled with the sorry state of infrastructures in the schools.

With only an old type writer which was gifted to him by someone in Shillong, he left to join an infrastructure-starved school in Tamei called Hamai English School, run and sponsored by Liangmai Naga Baptist Association (LNBA).

A year later, after having overcome the first hiccup of infrastructure-less setup, he faced the biggest challenge of his life with the breaking of the heart-rending Kuki-Naga ethnic confrontation.

Tamei being Naga preponderant area, all of his Kuki students, and some Nagas too, began to drop out fearing untoward repercussion from the ethnic tension.

With most of his students dropping out, he was unable to pay the 12 teachers for their services.

He then had to forgo his salary to pay for the salaries of the teachers.

At one point in time he was offered a lucrative teaching position in a university which he declined without any compunction whatsoever.

He says that he could not have accepted the offer when he had already dedicated his life for the upliftment of education in his home town Tamei by then.

Away from the glare of media and self induced fame, he worked for the welfare of students and the development of education.

His grit and determination took the school from the brink of collapse to a centre of knowledge and wisdom.

Despite the odds, he fought on, producing the first ever first division in the history of the school in 1997.The school boast today of having produced 3 medical doctors, 1 Ph.D scholar etc.

transforming completely from the old dilapidated structure to the present platonian-like "academy" .

Thanks to Meijinlung Kamson, the then Lok Sabha MP of outer Manipur parliamentary constituency, computer education has now been made available in the school in sync with the changing time of information and knowledge driven society.

A study centre of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has also been opened at the school, making quality education accessible to the people of Tamenglong.

The school building that reflects the aura of serenity and knowledge has been constructed with assistance from tribal development (TD) department of the government of Manipur for which Dr Hunibou said he will always be indebted to the former joint director of Tribal Research Institute (TRI), K Daimai.

The 52-year-old educationist also dabbles in wide ranging activities besides raising the standard of education in Tamei.

He is engaged in the campaign against environmental degradation in Tamei and has been part of a movement for the restoration of values in the society and ridding it off of intoxicants and the evil associated with the use and abuse of drugs.

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