Education is of utmost importance to us. Well, the minister M Okendro has promised a complete overhaul of the system which is chronically ill and it would take months and years to cure the ills or clear up the mess left by previous governments. But when the political will is there things will certainly start to move. And we should hope for the best. We are indeed glad that the Education Minister has called for suggestions from the general public by opening websites and email accounts of the minister which is a way of opening up. The general public and the civil society groups more particularly the students’ organizations should take maximum advantage of the opening that the minister has offered. Yet, we must say there has to be a processing unit for all the suggestions that are supposed to pour in from different sections of the society. By processing unit, we mean an education commission or a high powered committee equipped with adequate terms of reference and powers, which will revisit the education system in the state if at all it could be called a system, while also processing the inputs or suggestions received from the public. Education more particularly that of school education is something which need special understanding and a multi-disciplinary approach. It requires brainstorming sessions between experts from multi-faceted fields of study and praxis. The approach to education should begin from the question on what kind of citizens do we need or we want. For facilitating a progressive society, we need citizens who are self-reliant, independent, confident, conscious of both duties and rights of a citizen and one who understands his or her roots and one who is proud of the heritage or legacy that he or she has inherited. For a society to grow and develop in the right direction, we need responsible citizens who are aware of their roots and the heritage that they have inherited and the ability to sacrifice for the good and well-being of the society or the state they belong to. And he will automatically become proud of his heritage and will walk with the head held high among peers. No individual will succeed in understanding others if he does not know the self. He must first understand his own society, its history and cultural heritage before he looks for understanding of others and other communities. He has to understand his own society’s world view before he seeks to understand the world view of other societies. Having said this, we would like to carry forward the debate towards the administration of education. So far, educational administration in the state has been an adhoc approach with teacher deputationists manning the administrative posts in the directorate. This had recently been tackled with the cabinet approval for institution of Manipur Education Service which could be notified any time. As a matter of policy, the intake of the said cadre would be 50 percent from direct recruitment and another 50 percent from the in-service teachers who has to go through a limited competitive examination to be conducted by the Manipur Public Service Commission (MPSC). This step will certainly clear the school education directorate of teacher deputationists. The second step should be appointment of regular headmasters and principals for the schools at every level as a sense of regularity and permanence is essential for qualitative improvement in the schools. Here also, the intake formula needs to be two ways. 50 percent intake from promotion and another 50 percent through a limited competitive examination from eligible teachers as we need young and fresh blood to man the top posts of the schools. Thirdly, an effective transfer and posting policy for the teachers setting certain criteria or parameters has to be in place for effective administration of the school education system. Such a policy would come in handing in warding off political pressure from different quarters.
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