It's school time once again
Source: Hueiyen News Service

Imphal, January 11 2010: Schools which had remain closed for the last four months owing to the class boycott stir of three students' bodies since September 9, 2009 reopened today and normal classes started.

School vans also resume their services.

Schools started reopening after the agitating Apunba Lup signed an agreement with the government on January 8 last. Chingtham Ibopishak, a teacher of a school in Imphal west revealed that even though school authority did not issue any notice with regard to resumption of class, 80 percent of the students attended school today.

Children of KG grade listening to a class teacher in rapt attention on the first day of class resumption after four months' closure

However, he said some of the students of class-II and below have forgotten their role numbers.

They seemed to have forgotten the class atmosphere and were finding it difficult to adapt after such a long gap.

He further said that after observing the students today, it seemed as if they have lost the habit of learning.

Had the stir continue for a longer period, it might have done great harm to the career of the student.

It will take some time to make up lost habit of reading and learning, he added.

Another woman teacher, W Anupama, observed that not only the little students but students of higher classes of Standard-VII and above also have lost their reading habit.

In the class their attention seem to waver.

Teachers of her school are trying to bring back the students to the academic atmosphere by relaxing rules to be followed by them in the class.

Students also admitted that they find it difficult to pay attention to the lesson being taught by the teachers as they have read no book during the period they were kept out of class.

Warepam Daina and Khetrimayum Sanatombi of Standard-IX revealed that they reading time had come down drastically during the continuous holiday period.

Even though they went for private tuition, it could not make up the reading habit when they were attending regular classes in school.

Apart from this, as most of their time at home was spent on household works like preparing meal and washing cloths.

A guardian who came to take his child from the Little Flower School said, despite the family's best effort to keep his children in the reading room, the children found it difficult to concentrate on their books as their daily routines had been disturbed.

A school van driver, Naorem Rajesh said, even though they insisted the parents and guardians pay half of the monthly transportation charge, the same is yet to materialize.

In this situation, they can nothing much except hope for the parents and guardians good grace, to pay or not to pay is upto them.