The innocent faces!!

Photo Courtesy : Chaoba Phuritshabam


"Ayuki school nungshibi,
oja sure chutti thai,

chatra sure half thai,
ayuki school nungshibi,

oja chutti thabiro,
ema thabak hanglamlani"

....a class rhymes in a government school in the movie "Keku Lotpi". I must say it is a great way to express the ill state of education system in Manipur especially in the government schools which are stagnant and dormant from the decades. The basic education which every kid should avail becomes so sluggish and dull. None of the parents from the rich and middle class family sent their kids to the government schools. It becomes just a choice of the poorest of the poor. Some of the parents even sent their kids to the private schools even though they are not in the position to pay the higher fees and expenses just to keep the dream of their kids alive. But one of the most surprising factors is that none of the teachers of the government schools sent their kids to the school where they are teaching. This shows how morally corrupted people lived in Manipur. They make sure their kids complete their homework and attend the school everyday. Teachers could be hardly visible in the school and for them coming to school is just to show their face, sign in the register and finally to collect their pay at the end of the month. As a teacher they can never see the dream, hope and aim of the student in their eyes. I also had my part of experiencing the ill faith of the teachers in the govt. schools. Their ignorance and laziness deprived us from many things which are fundamental to many kids. Every day my father makes sure that I learnt my chapter before I leave for school so that I could dictate the same to my classmates. None of the parents have faith to the teachers. It's my father and uncle who pushed me, mend me to walk ahead and keep my dream alive irrespective of my school, teachers and background. While I was dictating the paragraph, the class teacher would sleep with his/her head bending over the table. Some of them even chew pan/cigarette in the class. Here comes the need of teaching the teachers for the disciplines and principles they should follow in the school and classroom. We need to regain their lost ethics and moral responsibilities before they are assigned the work of teaching. We could see no hope, we were never given the opportunity to mingle in the crowd and to think big and face the world. That was one the saddest part of my life. This movie flashed back the memory I had and rewrite the dim experience of the students of the govt. schools. I could see myself among them where we were just lost and nowhere to move ahead and dream for so called future.

The current scenario of the govt schools in Manipur is terribly bad and now teachers are paying a huge price for their rooted negligence. They are working hard now to maintain the minimum number of students in the schools. One of the shocking facts is that in 99% of the govt schools, the numbers of teachers are more than the students. It is a fact that teachers even go to the home of the students and request their parents to send them to the schools so that they can report the minimum number of students to the govt. It was last year I visited some govt schools near my home including the one where I suffered eight years of my childhood and to that place where my hope, dream, aim and my confidence was just crushed. I know I should show my respect to them as they are so called teachers but that kind of respect did not come from within. There are 7-8 kids in each of the class from class 3th to 8th. They were fighting with each other and playing hide and seek admist the broken walls of the school. I could still see no change. Teachers are enjoying their gossip session in the staff room with sinju, bora and tea. For them it is just leisure time in the school to escape from their nagging wives/husbands and to ease themselves from the household cores.

They wait for rain to come, they wait for summer, winter, autumn and every season & reason to end the session and declare holiday. No one seems to remember their moral ethics of being a teacher. For me my father and uncle are real teachers. I make sure I wish them every year on the teachers day despite of them belonging to other profession.


“Many dreams had died just as a dream,
Many hopes had just left as hope,
We were deprived of the dream & hope,
We were destined to have,
We were unwind
to a Man-made disaster....”

If we want to unwind the current system, it is a high time to question such irresponsible teachers and authorities. Why would they send their kids to the private schools when they deprived the dream and hope of the other's children? It is high time our government wake up from the long siesta, act in time and do something even though it is terribly late.