To err is human. To continue erring, divine. Given the multiple errors of judgment and application that Manipur repeats in endless continuous cycles, it is surely a state of the supernatural. It makes one wonder whether anyone has ever learnt anything of value at all.

Whether anyone has ever really been taught anything other than forwarding the shallow processes of flash and swank, where all activities and efforts are directed at creating more of the same folly. And of repeating it in the same exact manner.

A cursory look at the continual mistakes of calculations and deductions will put the blame squarely on the education system. The department of Education is undoubtedly the dirtiest in the business.

The only education that has emerged from it is a long series of scams and frauds. When there is less value on education and more on defalcation, the results are only too predictable.

Any job description within the education department must rank among the most comfortable of all jobs. One does not even need to attend the concerned school, let alone teach. There are better things to do.

Why bother? Sit at home, count the chickens, and try to figure out deeper philosophical questions like how the chicken came before the egg. And vice versa.

The extent to which teachers can mould present and future generations is limited by an inability to make sense of value systems. One rarely becomes a teacher by calling or choice.

The handfuls that do so are worthy of praise. But the fact of the matter is that the teaching profession is not a very attractive one. One becomes a teacher either because of a lack of choice, or because it is 'something to do' in between finding something better to do. Overworked and underpaid is the common refrain.

The survival of education is directly related to the survival of the teacher. The teacher is a guide, mentor, critic, manager and facilitator of all ideas that fulfill useful ends. It is the teacher's responsibility to do all of the above, and the department's duty to ensure that the process does not begin and end with the monthly payroll.

Perhaps the greatest hypocrisies lie within the curriculum itself. A student is taught one set of values in school, and his everyday reality is full of the opposite. "Thou shalt not cheat" is the popular chant.

Come exam time, it's "thou shalt not get caught". "Thou shall do thine homework" is another absolute commandment. "Thou can do it only through my invaluable tuition" is the unwritten one.

The theory of quality is taught, but the idea of quantity is also sold. The keys to success are taught, but everyone is also aware of how to pick the lock.

The idea of healthy food is taught, but everyone also knows everything about forbidden fruit. The idea of equality is written on every blackboard, but the theory of disparity is painted on every conceivable canvas.

Education has suffered in Manipur, perhaps more than it has suffered in other areas. It has been degenerated to a weed-infested field of the semi-literate, the pseudo-literate, and the badly educated. To understand this point, just look at any rice field.

Count the number of heads there who should be sitting on a school bench instead of standing ankle deep in the mud and slush. The omnipresent rice field confirms the valuable lesson that the child who has no school will end up on the farm along with the other duffers.

The reality of Manipur is also increasingly dissatisfying for those who come home after acquiring an education from outside. Many choose not to return. Most hurry elsewhere in search of jobs that go with bigger desks, chairs, and cars. Manipur has no place or use for all the certificates, and degrees and diplomas that its brightest minds have earned.

It is not hard to see where some of these bright, eager, young people could be valuable. It will of course, take some time, money, and foresight to set up the industry and administration to make use of the holders of all those certificates. But it has already taken far too long. Even those who tried have packed up and gone elsewhere.

One of the biggest stumbling blocks in the way of effective education is the difficult question of the point at which it becomes practical and applicable in the real world. We can teach a child how to read and write and count and spell.

But we cannot teach him how to read and write and count and spell the uncertainty that he is bound to face. We can teach him how about the road to a happy life. But we cannot show him the way, because we ourselves are unsure where it is. Some things in life are teachable.

Others, unteachable.