The call to regulate hostels : Deafening silence
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: December 25 2019 -

The sudden silence is deafening.

It was not so long back that calls to regulate all hostels and boarding houses in Manipur reverberated through the air but now with the CBI formally taking over the job of investigating the mysterious death of N Babysana, everyone seems to be content.

One may understand the sense of relief with the CBI now taking over the investigation, but what has happened to the demand that all hostels and boarding houses should be regulated?

Or are the people waiting for another ugly episode to revive this call ?

Moreover what steps has the State Government taken up to regulate establishments which are there to house young students and guide them in their academic pursuit ?

Or is it a case of the Government preferring to remain content as long as the people remain silent, undoubtedly satisfied ?

Is there no such thing as to ensure that establishments such as hostels and boarding houses abide by certain rules and regulations ?

If one goes by the report that came when the Babysana case was at its height, the State Government did not seem to have any rules and regulations specific to Manipur as far as hostels and boarding houses go and the natural question is, what steps have been taken up till date?

Can a blanket dos and don'ts without anything specific to Manipur be practical here ?

Situation is different here, the academic climate is different and so are the needs of the students.

This is the reality and given this, can Manipur afford to rely on the dos and don'ts framed without taking the specific interests of the young students here?

Has the State Government got in touch with the schools which have opened hostels and boardings?

Has the Government sought their inputs and suggestions?

How about parents and the respective schools and educational establishments ?

Have they made any effort to chip in with their suggestions and inputs ?

Time for the Government to open up and invite suggestions from the parents and guardians whose children are staying in hostels and boarding houses.

It is significant to note that it is again a student organisation, Students Union of Kangleipak (SUK) in this case, which has again reminded the State Government of the need to regulate the hostels and boarding houses opened in Manipur.

And when student bodies start raising such important points, it is a pointer to the sad fact that the Government has not been doing what is expected from it.

Not regulating hostels and boarding houses should more than say about the priority that the Government has placed on education and this is a serious matter.

For now the death of a young student has raised this important poser and one wonders what the Government has been doing all these years and making things all that more unacceptable is the point that so far there is nothing to suggest that the need to regulate hostels and boarding houses has dawned on the consciousness of the authority.

The need to regulate hostels is all that more given that more and more students are now coming to Imphal to study.

And most of the students come from the hill districts and other districts where the competitiveness of schools is nothing to write home about.

Regulate hostels, make life for the young students more secure, this is the bottomline.