Minister of education Mr. Imkong Imchen’s statement that the state government would not remain silent on the affiliation of schools of Naga-dominated areas of Manipur to the Nagaland Board of School Education (NBSE) to pursue the matter ‘aggressively’, is a statement made by the minister, without understanding the magnitude of the situation and its implications on the general people of Nagaland. I don’t know, what prompt him to make such a statement without taking into confidences of stake holders of the state and public at large. It is very unfortunate that such a person of eminence; Representative of the people and a member of the cabinet, without studying and analyzing the situation making such statement is highly questionable? The government should know that the public at large are the stake holders and step taken without the proper consensus of the people would land government into big political crises. The education minister may not probably know that such affiliation would deprive all its citizens of their basic rights to education in the state and at the cost of tax payers money.
The state of Nagaland which has a population of 20 lakhs, is one of the Nation highest growth on decadal population, and with such pace in decadal growth the state may not be able to provide the basic amenities such as shelter, food, education, health and shelter to its citizen. Education being the top most priority of any government policy, the question I want to make to the state government is that, we still lack in 100% literacy rate in the state, so why are we trying to accommodate the schools of hill district of Manipur to our Nagaland Board of School Education? What are we benefiting from it? More chaos and depriving our people from getting our basic educations rights which is fundamental rights of every individuals. The reasons may be many, but one thing is very sure that, it’s the few sections of politicians and vested interest in the government who are actually trying to hijack the state machinery to gain larger political mileage and to achieve idealist notion of greater Nagalim, which I feel it is unrealistic and fruitless in an era of globalization and liberalization. To my knowledge and convictions it is a political gimmick and we should not fall into such trap.
Another area of concern are the finance, it is said that finance is the life line of administration, so in retrospect to it, such proposals of affiliation of schools of four districts of Manipur to Nagaland Board of School Education (NBSC) would have financial strain to the exchequer of the state in a large scale. Thirdly if the government accepts the proposals of affiliation, the government strongly violates the principle of territorial jurisdiction of other state, which may led to law and order problem in the region and the state may be fully responsible to such chaos, it should be reminded that such chaos may led to greater destruction in the region and moreover it will jeopardized the peaceful existence of state of Manipur.
Fourthly the schools of hill districts of Manipur may unilaterally decide to join Nagaland Board of School Education (NBSC) and may give several reasons to it for joining but the political leadership in the state should with stand such pressure and take a firm stance on the issue and respect the territorial jurisdiction of state of Manipur otherwise the government will be full responsible to all the chaos. So what need of the hour is to take confidence of Government of Manipur and assure them that such move will not be entertained at the cost of their state. The government should leave no stone unturned so that there is no room for ambiguity, thus it is necessary for the state to bring a consensus on the issue before any decision is taken at the cabinet, the opposition can play a proactive role and people have large confidence on them. Last but not the least it is the wise decision of the present leaders that will decide the fate of the future generation whether to live in a just and equal society or to live in a unequal society fort he generation to come.
Lima Temjen
M.A (Political Science), New Delhi
