Education in Manipur: How improved is it, exactly?
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: June 08 2012 -

Chingthou Keicha from the desk

The present scenario of education in Manipur has improved much in comparison to past few years. Pass percentage of students in matric and class XII examinations has increased significantly.

Moreover, the number of students who passed in the first division has also increased tremendously over the years. Thanks to the new education system, adopted by the state government, the face of secondary and higher secondary education has changed indeed in the state.

In the 90s, many students found it hard to score above 60 percent marks in the matric exam. However, the situation has changed and today students find it a lot easier to score above 60 percent mark the exam with some extra efforts. With these changes, education in the state has developed a lot.

Now, students who want to pursue further education in other states find it easier to get themselves admitted in colleges where cut off marks are higher as compared to the institutions in the NE states.

While we are rejoicing over these changes in education, we should not overlook what the institutions are doing and what are their roles behind the high success rates of the students of the state.

Under the new system of examination introduced by the Board of Secondary Education Manipur (BSEM), 20 marks for each subject are reserved for internal assessment which is to be given by the concerned schools based on the performances and activities of the students in their school.

It is a very good step for the BSEM to take up such system which gives special weightage to the academic activities of the students, provided, the school authorities are sincere in giving these marks.

However, most of the time in Manipur, we have seen that school authorities are not sincere enough when it comes to competitive common examinations.

Instead of giving marks according to the performances and academic activities of the students, authorities are giving almost the same marks to every student irrespective of their academic activities, performances and attendance. The main reason behind the insincerity of the authorities is to woo more students in the next session.

If one studies the marking system of the internal assessment of matric exam, which is given by the respective schools, one can see that every student gets marks ranging from 18 to 20 out of 20 thereby making it lot more easier for the students to pass the examination by securing just 13 to 15 marks.

On the other hand, teachers of the school are posted as invigilators in examination centres where students of the same school are allotted seats. Such arrangements increase the chances of using unfair means although the atmosphere outside the examination centres may tell of a different story.

Even though the matter failed to catch the attention of the public, one cannot deny the possibility of invigilators helping students of his/her school in the examination halls thereby enabling them easily to pass the examinations in flying colour.

But if we test those students under strict conditions with the same set of question papers just after some days, many students who have passed in first division will fail to make the cut.

If these situations remain, the quality of education in Manipur will decline year after year despite recording high pass percentage in examinations.

Keeping this in mind, teachers and school authorities should never encourage the students to use unfair means in examinations. Sincerity should be the guiding for when we discuss quality of education in the state.