Where have the students gone?

Oinam Anand*

To be a part of an inspection team to inspect the examination centres of High School and Higher Secondary examination is a healthy experience for me. Beside having pocket allowance daily and free drive in the entire length and breadth of the state, I have got valuable moments and accounts to get an insight into the present examination scenario which I have recorded silently in my mind for my column here.

Overtly, an inspection team coming from COHSEM or BOSEM to an examination centre is sure to get a warm welcome from the examination authorities, the O.C, S.Is and more by the local volunteers. Covertly the team members did not fail to feel the breath of anguish from the examination centres.

First those examination centres which are sincerely conducting the examination and are strictly enforcing the examination rules feel the visit of the inspection team from the Council or Board as a hurt in their pride.

Second, as it becomes the question of survival of some schools and colleges, specially in the private centres, the authorities of the examination centre do not want vice-like grip to the students and some invigilators prefer to look the other way while the students are answering the questions. In both the conditions the visit of the inspection team is not welcome with open heart.

During the fortnight, apart from the inspection, I have taken account of students reading in schools and colleges of remote areas of Manipur. But the findings are not what I have expected.

Conventional wisdom make us believe that a school is a place, an abode of learning where students converge to acquire knowledge. But let us imagine for a society where there is enough school building to accomodate students but not enough students to learn. And at the same time, there are also many children who are deprived of the facilities of modern Education system even in this 21st century. Then that society will be our present Manipuri society definitely.

Manipur has also entered the 21st century with the entire world. But unfortunately even after 60 years of the state becoming a part of an independent democratic country, the provision of imparting good education to the students is still a pipe dream, not a reality. This has led many parents to think twice before taking any decision whether they should continue the schooling of their children in the state or they should send their children to other safer areas and states where there is good academic environment.

The academic atmosphere in the state has undergone a change in the past five years. The better side of the change is that the use of unfairmeans in the examinations are decreased considerably in almost all the examination centres of the state conducting class-X and XII examinations. The good harvest of Operation new Kangleipak is visible in matter of cleansing the examination. But the unfortunate side of the story is decreasing number of students appearing in the said examinations and also the unequal ratios of distribution of students in different examination centres.

In the 2001 census, the population of Manipur exceeds 24 lakhs. Let us assume out of the 24 lakhs, one third of the population belong to elder groups, one-third to children of pre-nursery or primary schools students. Then the students appearing High School and Higher Secondary examinations must be from the remaining one-third or 8 lakhs of the entire population of the state. Looking from the above calculations, the number of students appearing in both the Class X and Class XII examinations might have crossed the 1 lakh figure. But this year the total number of students in both the examinations is below fifty thousand. Then where have the students gone? This is becoming a big question of survival of the higher secondary schools and colleges in Manipur in the coming ten years.

In the early 90s the number of students appearing in HSLC examinations exceeded 35 thousands in a year in an average. Even in 2003 the number of students in the class X examination exceeded 30 thousands. In that period of time the average annual increase of number of students was three to four thousands a year. If the trend continues in that progression, then this year 2008, the numbers of students appearing the class X examination through BOSEM would have crossed the 50 thousand mark. But in contrast, the BOSEM has got only 25 thousand plus registered students in this year, an annual average decrease of 5 thousand students in a year in the past 5 years (from 2003 to 2008, taking 2003 as the base year in which ONK launches its mission to cleanse the examination system).

From 2003 onwards there has been a sudden leap forward in the quality and merit of the students passing the HSLC examination. While the teaching and administrative approach in the school education remain stagnant as before, the quantity of students decreased sharply in the post Matric level of Schooling. This decreasing trend in Pass percentage in the last many years plus the migration of the students to other states for further studies after Class X has affected the academic atmosphere of the higher secondary schools and colleges in Manipur.

There are many reasons other than the low pass percentage for the migration of students to other places outside Manipur. The law and order problem which comes out of the Conflict Situation in Manipur is one of the main reasons for parents to send out their children from the state. If the present trend continues for another decade then there will be schools without students.