Imphal, November 29: The existing potential of human resource development in the State has been rendered useless due to mismanagement and ineffective education system of the Government.

As a result, there has been exodus of students from Government schools to private schools so much so that even an ordinary farmer prefers to send his children for education in a private school instead of approaching a Government school where the cost of education is relatively cheaper.

If this trend continues, then, it is fear that a situation may soon arrive in the near future in which there would be no student left in the Government schools, yet the Government will be spending money on the salaries of the teachers in the Government schools.

Disclosing this to The Sangai Express, a reliable source said that the annual status report on education in the State prepared by an NGO under the initiative of the Government of Manipur has pointed out that the education system in Manipur has been a failure with the number of students in Government as well as Private schools and colleges coming down drastically over the last five years even as there has been a steady rise in the number of students going outside the State for learning.

In the recent Combined Examination conducted by the Manipur Public Service Commission (MPSC), out of 95 candidates selected for the posts of MSC, MPS and MFS officers, only five of them have studied in Manipur and the rest from outside Manipur, the source said quoting that this is a damning testimony to the state of affairs of State education and its management.

In connection with education among the college level students, the report said that over the last five years, the number of students admitted in class XI to MA (including research fellows) in Government and Private colleges of Manipur as well as in Manipur University has declined sharply.

According to figures obtained from Manipur University, 29,400 students were admitted in 2002, 23,951 in 2003, 18,777 in 2004, 16,635 in 2005 and 17,028 students in 2006.While observing that most of the good students prefer to go outside the State for higher studies, the report noted that a weak political system would not be able to solve this problem of exodus of students.

On school education, the report pointed out that out of the total number of students admitted in class I to X in the last academic session, 38.5 percent are in Government schools and 59 percent in private schools, while the rate of drop-outs from schools is 2.5 percent.

If this trend continues, then a situation may soon arise in which all the students would enrolling in the private school leaving the Government schools empty and the Government remaining there just to pay the salary of the Government school teachers, the report of the study predicted.

The sample survey conducted by the NGO in the three districts of Ukhrul, Bishnupur and Churachandpur pointed out that only 48 percent of the students in Ukhrul district study in Government schools as against 27.8 percent in private schools, in Churachandpur 21.8 percent of the students are Government school as against 76.3 percent of students in private schools.

Whereas in Bishnupur 34.8 percent of the students go to Government schools as against 44.9 percent in private schools.

However, the number of students who cannot read a simple paragraph are 70.6 percent in Ukhrul, 47.4 percent in Bishnupur and 21.5 percent in Churachandpur district.

Moreover, 62.5 percent of the students in Ukhrul, 45.9 percent in Bishnupur and 22 percent in Churachandpur district cannot do a simple two digit subtraction and addition.

This brings out a direction co-relation between the number of students going to private school and knowledge level of the students.

In other words, higher the percentage of students going to private schools, better i the education level and higher the number of students going to Government school, poor is their educational level.

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