Dimapur, August 17 (MExN): An amalgam of private schools, Private Schools Forum (PSF) covering the four hill districts – Tamenglong, Ukhrul, Chandel and Senapati – of Manipur, has forwarded a submission to Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio to take immediate action towards affiliation of private schools in the mentioned districts to the Nagaland Board of School Education (NBSE). Strongly appealing to the Government of Nagaland to recognize the gravity of the situation and the alarming threat to the identity of the Nagas in general and the academic lives of the Naga students of Manipur, it was asserted that “we have now entered into a situation where we can approach the Government of Nagaland to exercise your democratic constraints to champion our democratic aspiration by granting our schools prompt affiliation to the NBSE.”
PSF stated in a representation: “The Nagas of Manipur vehemently oppose and censure the attempt to obliterate the minorities; the recent call by the Meitei Mayek activists and the diktat of the Meitei undergrounds to introduce the Meitei Mayek is the last straw. Perceiving this form of ethnic cleansing as more insidious and deadly we have taken the momentous decision of moving en masse to affiliate all private schools to NBSE.” The PSF, through its president N Heny, asserted that the decision is not only taken but carried out as well and all private schools have shifted to NBSE syllabus and text books with immediate effect from June 2006.
“The situation in Manipur has become such that the minority sections are facing serious threat of ethnic cleansing in very subtle yet deliberate ways from the dominant Meiteis through imposition of Meitei language, the latest being the belligerent declaration to introduce Meitei Mayek by the Meitei Mayek activists, imposition of Meitei Phanek (Meitei Mekhela) for all college girls in Imphal, the omission of tribal history, culture literature and contribution in the text books, tempering of history especially after the demand for Naga integration, political overtones denying the existence of Nagas in Manipur” the PSF informed.
“We therefore strongly appeal to the Government of Nagaland, the father of Naga Diaspora to recognize the gravity of the situation and the alarming threat to the identity of the Nagas in general and the academic lives of the Naga students of Manipur who have censored the Board of Secondary Education Manipur (BSEM) in particular and take prompt responsibility of saving our students from the punishment meted out by the Meitei government, from desiring to affiliate to a meaningful and related board in the form of passing a cabinet resolution to derecognize all migrating schools and not to recognize any other board except BSEM and CBSE for admission into colleges in Manipur” the PSF appealed.
