Felicitation programmes galore : Bordering on publicity stunts
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: June 11, 2012 -

This is an overkill and a cause for concern. Acknowledging the good performance of students in the Class X and Class XII examinations is welcome but it comes close to a sham when there is too much of a glam and media over hype.

Ever since the Board of Secondary Education, Manipur, the Central Board of Secondary Education, Delhi and the Council of Higher Secondary Education, Manipur declared the results of the Class X and Class XII examinations, there have been felicitation programmes galore in almost all the 60 Assembly Constituencies of Manipur.

This trend may not exactly fit the bill of an unhealthy culture, but the apprehension that the real concern over the education of the youngsters may be dimmed by the smoke billowing out of these felicitation programmes is too real to ignore.

It is against all odds that young students in Manipur have had to cope with the fiercely competitive world of today and their creditable performance have come not because of but despite the hindrances posed by an ineffective Government made worse by a selfish and insensitive public.

Bandhs, blockades, power cuts, fragile law and order situation, dusty and slushy roads, ill equipped schools, lack of teachers etc are some of the hazards that the youngsters have had to face from time to time and this aptly sums up the description of a State which has failed to provide the right atmosphere for the young students to pursue their academic career.

The question that follows naturally is what the Government has done to smoothen the path of the students ?

Felicitating the students who have done creditably well in the examination is at best a pat on the back for a work well done and does not come anywhere near charting out a policy to provide a congenial atmosphere for the young students to pursue their studies.

Publicity and good press are the oxygen of the politicians. And what better opportunity to get good press than to be seen as a good samaritan, extending a helping hand to the poor and needy students when the feel good sentiment evoked by a good performance in the examination is still hot ?

The spree of felicitation programmes hosted by the politicians in Manipur presently comes agonisingly close to searching for their day and time under the arc light of publicity and there is nothing encouraging about this.

As politicians go and as their job demands, publicity and good press may be just what their doctors and advisors have prescribed, but it makes absolutely no sense to hype the performance of the youngsters while turning a blind eye to the root cause of all the problems faced by the students.

Not everyone can be a topper. Not everyone can be a Md Ismat and not everyone will have the guts and conviction of a Sapna. Yet it is the bounden duty of the Government, especially in the light of the fact that Parliament has passed the Right to Education Act, to ensure that education becomes universal.

Instead of the overhyped felicitation programmes it would do so much good for the student community and the State as a whole if only the political leaders of the place put their heads together and try to work out a policy or two to smoothen the path of the youngsters.

For starters why not deeply study and try to understand why parents are hard pressed to send their children outside the State to pursue higher studies ?

Why not look into the dismal power supply scenario and stop passing the buck ?

These are but just two starting points from which the political leaders of the land may start addressing the issue of education.