Pathetic reality of Govt schools Teachers in studentless schools
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Something is horribly wrong and the Government is just fumbling in the dark on how to deal with the matter. That is if it is aware of the pathetic state of schools that come under the Government. As the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) in its 2024-2025 report put it, no students have been enrolled in 35 Government schools and 60 teachers are employed at schools in which there are no students ! This sounds like a joke, a big cruel joke and even as this is being written, it is not clear if the Government is aware of the pathetic state of the system that passes off as education in some schools and in some parts of the State. That this is the reality even as the BJP led Government had introduced the School Fagathanshi Mission with much publicity and zeal is all that more unacceptable. Other than this, the report has also pointed out that of the 4666 schools surveyed, 383 schools have one teacher each. The report puts in some disturbing figures too such as 420 out of 3894 toilets for girls not being functional besides 470 out of 4010 toilets for boys being in the same state. The figures given here are just figures and do not really reflect what is being taught to the young students in numerous Government schools across the length and breadth of the State and it is not magic that is needed but a Government which needs to put a premium on the education of the young children. And when one talks about what is being taught to the students, then the very fact that many parents and guardians feel compelled to admit their children in private schools should say something significant. It is not because the parents are spoilt for choice that they have opted to send their children to private schools, but because they have no option, if they really want their children to become ‘educated’. That Governments down the decades have utterly failed to look into this aspect is there for all to see whenever the Board of Secondary Education, Manipur announces the results of the HSLC examination every year. It is the same when the Council of Higher Secondary Education, Manipur (CoHSEM) announces the Class XII examination results. If there were no private players then one can imagine the pit to which Manipur would have fallen. It is still not clear what steps the Government would take up to address the lacunae but it should first take cognizance of the fact that the system in Government schools that passes off as teaching the children is nothing but playing a sort of a joke on the people who cannot afford to send their children to the more costly private schools. Something has to give or else Manipur will continue to sink further and further into the morass of incompetency. A situation which is not at all acceptable when the by word is excellence in whatever one does.
In as much as the Government has failed to look after even its own schools, it also stands that Manipur as a whole has refused to acknowledge the space that should be left to the students. A space which should be left free for students to pursue their studies and explore the opportunities that are available to the young minds. This is a point which The Sangai Express has touched on many occasions here, but it is more than obvious that no one is willing to listen. Why do hundreds and hundreds of students of Manipur feel compelled to make a beeline for destinations outside the State once they have finished their Class XII ? This is a question which everyone concerned should be raising within themselves. For those who crack NEET and JEE or other competitive exams to pursue their higher education outside Manipur, it is a different matter but not all students are made out to be doctors or engineers and many do go in for general education. What is the reason that make these students feel the need to go outside for their higher studies ? The answer to this question should tell its own story and herein lies the primacy that ought to be given to education. And education today should be understood as not only what is taught in the classrooms, but the overall environment, an environment that does not disturb or derail the academic pursuit of the young students. Has Manipur been able to provide such an atmosphere ? The answer is out there and think about it, the reality that gives the answer does not say anything positive about encouraging students to pursue their academic endeavour.
In as much as the Government has failed to look after even its own schools, it also stands that Manipur as a whole has refused to acknowledge the space that should be left to the students. A space which should be left free for students to pursue their studies and explore the opportunities that are available to the young minds. This is a point which The Sangai Express has touched on many occasions here, but it is more than obvious that no one is willing to listen. Why do hundreds and hundreds of students of Manipur feel compelled to make a beeline for destinations outside the State once they have finished their Class XII ? This is a question which everyone concerned should be raising within themselves. For those who crack NEET and JEE or other competitive exams to pursue their higher education outside Manipur, it is a different matter but not all students are made out to be doctors or engineers and many do go in for general education. What is the reason that make these students feel the need to go outside for their higher studies ? The answer to this question should tell its own story and herein lies the primacy that ought to be given to education. And education today should be understood as not only what is taught in the classrooms, but the overall environment, an environment that does not disturb or derail the academic pursuit of the young students. Has Manipur been able to provide such an atmosphere ? The answer is out there and think about it, the reality that gives the answer does not say anything positive about encouraging students to pursue their academic endeavour.