Imphal, Jul 18: Sticking to his guns, Secretary of the Board of Secondary Education, Manipur, Ph Nandakumar today said that the members present at the 4th Zonal Meeting of the NE Zone of the Council of Boards of School Education in India, held at Guwahati on July 13 agreed that each Board should stick to its area of jurisdiction.

This was also corroborated by the Deputy Secretary of the Council of Higher Secondary Education, Manipur, Babudhon Sapamcha.

Speaking to The Sangai Express separately the two senior officials said that the area of jurisdiction of each Board was discussed during the meeting at Guwahati and both asserted that the meeting agreed that each Board will stick to its area of jurisdiction and not impinge on another.

The BSEM Secretary Nandakumar said that during the meeting he personally brought up the subject of the text book burning incident during the meeting and produced newspapers reports.

None of the members objected or raised complaints when the matter was raised during the meeting, said Nandakumar and added that all agreed that each Board should stick to its area of jurisdiction.

After it was agreed that each Board will stick to the rules of sticking to its area of jurisdiction, the Secretary of COBSE, DV Sharma asked for a copy of the Manipur Secondary Education Act, 1972, said Nandakumar and added that a copy was duly given to the official.

DV Sharma will submit the copy of the State's Act to the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development for due discussion, said Nandakumar.

The Deputy Secretary of the CHSEM, Babudhon Sapamcha said that the meeting first deliberated on the frame work of the National curriculum after which the jurisdiction of each Board was discussed.

All members present including representatives from Nagaland had agreed on each Board sticking to its area of jurisdiction, said Babudhon.

The resolutions of the meeting are yet to be circulated, he added.

A letter sent to the president of the COBSE, Ashok Ganguly by its general secretary DV Sharma mentioned that the demand in some hill districts of Manipur to use text books of Nagaland Board was raised during the meeting.

In this connection, the general secretary of COBSE (DV Sharma) had pointed out that it is an inter-State issue and the matter has already been referred to the Department of Education, Ministry of HRD and it is for the Government of India to take a stand on the issue.

As the letter shows, the issue was discussed during the meeting.