College Fagathanshi, School Fagathanshi Posers to these slogans
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College Fagathanshi. School Fagathanshi. Catchy slogans, much like the War on Drugs campaign, slogans which have come from the fertile minds of the BJP led Government at Imphal. But these slogans fall flat on its face, when viewed against the fact that employees of the Board of Secondary Education, Manipur (BoSEM) are up in arms against the decision of the Government to reappoint a person who has already retired from service as the Chairman of BoSEM. Now with the employees of BoSEM crying foul against the decision of the Government to re-appoint a person to a position from which he had earlier retired, no one knows how the Class X board exams will proceed, the time table for which has been announced with the exam scheduled to start from February 19 next year. Now it is December, which means the State Government has only 60 days or so to work out the matter and ensure that one of the most important exams in the life of a student is not tinkered with. This in brief is the imbroglio over BoSEM and one does not need to look further as six student organisations have already raised a war cry against the failure to appoint a full time Vice Chancellor for Dhamanjuri University (DMU). Mid boggling it is to even learn that since its inception sometime in 2018, DMU has had only one regular VC in the person of Professor N Rajmohun. After that there has been no regular VC for the varsity with bureaucrats shunted in to carry on the work of the VC ! And to think that this is the same Government which has coined the College Fagathanshi and School Fagathanshi slogans and nothing can get more comical than this. Unable to even set things right in a State University, such as appointing a regular Vice Chancellor as in the case of DMU or name the Chairman of BoSEM and the Government goes around coining slogans such as School Fagathanshi and College Fagathan-shi. A more than clear indication that while fancy slogans may be coined to catch the imagination of the public and something to boast about on paper, this does not mean that anything substantive is being done to better the lot of education as universally understood. The Government should understand that improving schools and colleges cannot be done under any lofty sounding slogans, but will need to come via the demonstration of sincere approach to the task at hand and if letting a university of higher education remain headless or an institution as important as BoSEM to be manned by anyone who has retired from service, then something, somewhere is terribly wrong. Why should a university be left headless for so long ? Only the Government can answer this but doubtful if any answer will be forthcoming.
After the DMU Bill was passed in the State Assembly in 2017 and the varsity came into being in 2018, there were impressions doing the round that this could go some way in easing the burden of parents and guardians who had then felt compelled to send their children outside the State for their further studies. For those who manage to crack NEET or JEE there was no need to look outside Manipur for the further studies of their children and wards, but not all students are after medical studies or engineering and many look for further studies, such as going in for their Bachelors in the Science, Commerce or Arts stream. Many had looked at the coming of DMU as some sort of a cushion to fall back on for the further studies of their children and wards. However as things have turned out, the Government appears set to puncture the hope and aspirations of students, parents and elders of the family, without giving any thought to the fate of a place of learning. How can a University function effectively without a regular head ? Or is the Government under the impression that dispensing the duty of the VC is something that can be entrusted to a serving bureaucrat ? Or should institutions as important as BoSEM be allowed to be run and managed by an official who has already retired ? Wasn’t it a promise of the BJP led Government that they would do away with the practise of re-appointing retired officials ? Manipur deserves an answer.
After the DMU Bill was passed in the State Assembly in 2017 and the varsity came into being in 2018, there were impressions doing the round that this could go some way in easing the burden of parents and guardians who had then felt compelled to send their children outside the State for their further studies. For those who manage to crack NEET or JEE there was no need to look outside Manipur for the further studies of their children and wards, but not all students are after medical studies or engineering and many look for further studies, such as going in for their Bachelors in the Science, Commerce or Arts stream. Many had looked at the coming of DMU as some sort of a cushion to fall back on for the further studies of their children and wards. However as things have turned out, the Government appears set to puncture the hope and aspirations of students, parents and elders of the family, without giving any thought to the fate of a place of learning. How can a University function effectively without a regular head ? Or is the Government under the impression that dispensing the duty of the VC is something that can be entrusted to a serving bureaucrat ? Or should institutions as important as BoSEM be allowed to be run and managed by an official who has already retired ? Wasn’t it a promise of the BJP led Government that they would do away with the practise of re-appointing retired officials ? Manipur deserves an answer.