Dimapur, October 9 (MExN): The State Council of Educational Research & Training offers an apology to the Rengma and Pochury communities for the inadvertent omission of the two from the study list of Naga tribes in a social science textbook (class-VI). The SCERT, however, also expressed surprise that notices continued to be served by the students’ communities in concern. The council informed that a meeting earlier on September 19 had given assurances to the Rengma Students’ Union and Pochury Students’ Union that the revision would be available by December 10.
SCERT director Vipralhou Kesiezie clarified that the matter of omission was brought to notice by presidents of both the unions, along with their advisor. They met with the SCERT director on September 19 at the SCERT, Kohima where they submitted a representation. In the course of the meeting, SCERT expressed sincere apologies to the students’ representatives for the inadvertent omission. They were also assured that necessary correction would be immediately affected in the new revised version, to be made available by December 10, 2007, the director clarified. It was also mentioned that after the deliberations, and subsequent apology and assurances, the advisor had summed up the meeting that the matter be ended there based on the assurances given by the department.
The meeting ended amicably without further demands from the unions for written apology or any other. The SCERT had the impression was a closed chapter, the director stated. He also stated that subsequent demand for apology from constituent bodies such as Kandinu Students’ Union and RSU Dimapur appeared on account their not knowing the outcome of SCERT’s meeting with their apex bodies.
The SCERT also expressed surprise that later, even the Rengma Students’ Union issued a notice on October 8 threatening to ban the textbook unless it is rectified and an apology tendered to that effect.
Nevertheless, the SCERT in the interest of public service apologized to both the communities for the “genuine mistake.” “The omission of their names is totally unintentional as our assertion is borne out of the fact that in the subsequent topic ‘Material Culture’ of the same page (page 124) specific mention is again made of the Pochury people’s use of the crossbow as a weapon. Also in the textbook of other classes, one will always find a mention of the Rengma tribe whenever topics of Naga composition or festivals celebrated in Nagaland are studied by the children” the SCERT pointed out.
This would not be so if the words of the Rengma Students’ Union’s representation – “a serious and deliberate attempt to exclude the Rengmas and Pochurys from the list of the Naga tribes” were at all true, the SCERT added.
