Imphal, November 11: Pledging unstinted support to the endeavour of MEELAL for promotion of Meitei Mayek, Democratic Students' Alliance of Manipur (DESAM) has asked the State authorities to do the needful in order to ensure selection of primary school teachers from among those candidates who are well versed with the indigenous script.

Contending that there is no point of entertaining candidates bereft of Meitei Mayek knowledge as the State Government had already introduced the script in class I and II level from the previous (2005) academic session, DESAM mooted that need of the hour is to select those candidates who could not only read or write the script but is experienced as well.

Opining that processes for expeditious replacement of Bengali script with Meitei Mayek should be supported by all section of the society, the student body in a statement reminded that Meiteilon being the lingua franca of the State there should be no artificial barrier on development of the indigenous script.

Taking strong exception to the State Govt's reluctance to honour MEELAL's criteria on selecting candidates for the primary teachers' post, DESAM prevailed upon the legislators and Govt officials to shake off colonial hangover and pursue a more positive approach for the betterment of Manipur's future.

Stating that most Government schools impart lessons on different subjects in Manipuri medium, DESAM observed that failure to understand future consequences of neglecting Meitei Mayek would be costly in the long run.

Moreover, leniency in selection process and policy of relying on only matriculation for teaching primary level students need to revised as shaping the future society unarguably necessitates grooming students from a tender age for which efficiency of the teachers is vital rather than emphasising on candidates who can read or write, it insisted.

Disagreeing with the State Government's assertion that Meitei Mayek training could be extended to teachers after selection, DESAM pointed out nothing substantial had been achieved despite similar exercise announced by the Education Cell of Education (S) Department for phase-wise imparting of Meitei Mayek to over 2775 teachers of primary level schools.

Observing that such faulty education policy of the Govt is a contributory factor for stagnancy in development of the indigenous script, DESAM despised setting matriculation as the bar for recruiting primary school teachers contrary to insistence on graduation level for even a clerical job.

Regretting that State Government is still toying on the erstwhile British rulers' line of enrolling teachers, DESAM stressed on recruiting competent individuals as future of Manipur lay in the hands of primary teachers.

Driving home its point for inevitability of well qualified candidates as well as urgent necessity on importance of primary school teachers, DESAM asserted that in developed country like Japan primary school teachers are considered inseparable for which they are also well paid and respected.

Moreover, education policy of Govt of India had undergone a sea change including insistence on training of teacher whereas State Govt is short of vision as the reliance is still on knowledge of general English and general knowledge, said the student body.

Coming back to the Meitei Mayek issue, DESAM expressed that under no circumstance should propagation of the indigenous script be interpreted in myopic paradigm as the people of Manipur should be proud of the fact that Meitei Mayek is one of the oldest indigenous script in the entire South East Asia region apart from being the only State in the North East region having its own script.

hue and cry over the naive observation of Meitei Mayek being a difficult script to learn should also be discarded as the script has fewer than 50 letters contrary to which Chinese and Japanese scripts together command over thousands of letters, mentioned the statement.

Belittling outbursts of Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh as well as former CM W Nipamacha Singh as desperate grumble, DESAM cautioned that failure to understand importance of the issue and acknowledge public sentiment on the matter would bear heavy consequences as DESAM is committed to ensure promotion and development of the indigenous script.

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