Karaiba Chawang
Kohima | November 13
While the Nagaland Government is exerting pressure on the Centre to clear hurdles for smooth affiliation of all private schools from the four Naga hill districts of Manipur, the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development appears to be washing its hands off from the issue as revealed by a letter written to the State School Education Minister, Imkong L Imchen, asking him to sort out the matter with the Manipur Government as education falls under the State subject.
Union HRD Minister, Arjun Singh, in his September 28 missive to the State School Education Minister stated that the Ministry has examined the matter, as per the representation sent by the Nagaland Government, but mentioned the need to sort out the issue between the two governments.
“We have examined the matter. But since education is a state subject, there is a need to be sorted out between the government of Manipur and Nagaland”, the letter stated, which was reportedly received by Imchen on November 8 last.
Imchen said that he has not discussed anything with his Manipur counterpart on the issue till date but said that he might first discuss the Union Minister’s letter with the state Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio for opinion, and subsequently with the State Cabinet for final decision on how to further the affiliation process with the Manipur Government as requested by Arjun Singh.
“We have not met Manipur Government on the issue till date, but I am sure a time will come”, Imchen told pressmen at his office chamber today.
Earlier, the Nagaland Government had written to MHRD Minister, Arjun Singh, on behalf of the schools of the four Naga districts of Manipur requesting the latter to either allow affiliation of all private schools from the four hill districts to NBSE or to set a separate board as demanded by the Nagas in Manipur state.
Imchen also said that Naga students from the four hill districts of Manipur were allowed to appear their Class-X examination in Nagaland by the Government after considering the ‘grievous ground situation in Manipur’.
The Minister asserted that the decision was not taken by him and Chief Minister alone, but is the Cabinet’s collective decision after examining all aspects involved. “We allowed them purely on humanitarian aspect, after all they are all our brothers and sisters”, Imchen said.
As such to single him and the Chief Minister out on the issue as the sole deciders by ‘somebody’ is unfortunate.
“The school affiliation issue is yet to be resolved with the government of India or with the government of Manipur and therefore one should not draw conclusion at this point of time. However, if they wanted to politicize it then, they are beyond our control”, Imchen said.
The Minister also categorically clarified that the issue of job opportunity and awarding of scholarship was never discussed in the cabinet and hence, such questions does not arise.
Pressure from students’ bodies, NGOs and civil societies also prompted the Nagaland government to allow the students from the four districts to appear their Class-X examinations. So far about 3665 students have taken admission in various schools in Nagaland.
“When we met All Nagaland Private School Association on the initiative of the Naga Students’ Federation, we were glad that they happily told us that they will accommodate the Naga students from the said four districts”, Imchen disclosed.
Students were admitted into different private schools of Nagaland on nominal fees after considering all the difficulties being faced by both the students and parents, while fees were exempted in all government schools. “We adopted a very sympathetic approach”, Imchen said.
