Retrospections for a better future
Source: IT Desk

Imphal, October 12 2018: The shroud of gloom hanging over Manipur University has finally been lifted and after more than four months of agitations, midnight raids, protests, arrests and allegations flying thick and fast from both sides of the divide, a faint of ray has finally emerged in the form of a directive from the state high court.

The timing of the decision of the court to step in could not have come at a more appropriate moment, and in appointing Jarnail Singh as Administrator, the state can heave a collective sigh of relief as he had proven himself to be an able administrator beyond reproach and more importantly, one who knows the sentiment and way of thinking of the people of the state.

He will be in office till such time as deemed necessary to bring the varsity to order with administrative powers of a Vice Chancellor and protected by the court from any individual or party contemplating any disruptive steps in his efforts to bring the house in order.

The people of the state repose its trust and support to the newly appointed Administrator and is expectantly waiting to start putting things in motion and make the varsity function as it should once again.

The present development, however promising it might look, should not be seen as a solution.

Far from it, this arrangement should be seen as a last ditch effort in a bid to restore the sanctity and relevance of the varsity, and everybody should now come forward and extend full cooperation and support to the Administrator to speed things up and salvage the lives of thousands of students whose academic career has been put on hold for so long.

This is the perfect opportunity for the officials, teachers, students and all stakeholders of the University to retrospect and retrace the events leading to the present situation.

Such an exercise should present a clear picture of what should have been done, what to have been avoided, how things could have been handled differently, and most importantly, learn how things would have to be done to avoid a repetition because there cannot be a better teacher than experience.

And while the Administrator and his hand-picked team goes about setting things right, the students, teachers and staffs should get back to academic activities in right earnest to try and make up for lost time.

The state government should also take proactive role in bringing about an amicable settlement to the issue of the arrested teachers and students of the varsity.

The fact that a few counter FIRs has already been lodged against the suspended Pro VC might very well snowball into another eruption of agitations and violent protests if timely action and intervention is not made by the state government.

Manipur University should serve as a study of how small and often seemingly insignificant oversights- intentionally or otherwise-could build up over time to become a mountain of problems that has threatened to wreak the future of thousands of students and its own existence.

There could not be a better time to own up and make efforts to ensure such an unfortunate event is not repeated in the future.

Comment