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Private school education slowly but steadily gaining favour in Manipur.
More and more parents are choosing private (independent) schools as compared to state schools in Manipur. Some of the private schools are comparable to Modern Public School (private co-educational, day scholar and boarding school) at Barakhamba Road near Connaught Place in New Delhi, which is among
There is now growing evidence in Manipur that private (independent) schools are better than state schools as visible by more and more parents choosing private school education for their children.
No one can argue that private education has brought a storm of advancement in Manipur. Imphal has become the Education and Health hub, not only do the Manipuri middle class benefit from private education and private health care but also the lower income families who use the booming private health care industry because of state dysfunction.
Private schools in Manipur are no more reflections of yesteryears’ Catholic institutions. They are more Indian than the imitation British public schools. Imphal City has a chance to make its mark with schools such as Sishu Nista Niketan at Mayai Koibi or St Anthony’s School at Chingmeirong. The educational system is of high calibre equivalent to Modern School (private co-educational, day scholar and boarding school) at Barakhamba Road near Connaught Place in New Delhi, which is among the top five day-cum-boarding schools nationwide.
In Manipuri society it is clear to everyone that mobility to an upper class will be possible only through education. Hence, rich and poor parents ensure that their children attend private schools, a choice borne out of the poor standard of teaching in state schools in Imphal or hardly any teaching, especially in remote rural and hill areas where some teachers do not attend or send unqualified proxies for a small payment out of their salaries.
State schools across India not only in Manipur, are failing and losing out to private schools. Children in the 6 to 14 age group attending private schools in rural areas have risen from 18.7% in 2006 to 30.8% in 2014. Knowing that state schools are failing and realising the difference between government and private-owned schools, Manmohan Singh, in his second term in office as prime minister of India, tried to experiment with government funded private schools. The initiative, however, never got much traction with the BJP government coming to power in 2014.
Right from the beginning, education hasn’t got its due in Manipur. The British colonial rulers had no interest in spreading education in Manipur while the Meitei kings were equally uninterested. Manipuris have a lot to thank James Johnstone for valley education and William Pettigrew for hill education. It is sad that the old Johnstone High English School is now only conspicuous by its absence.
It was only during the tenure of William Bentinck (1828-1835 CE) as the governor general of Bengal did “modern” English education system reach Manipur. He expressed his strong opinion in favour of English education as “western education was superior and could only be taught in English”.
He despised vernacular education for Hindus (pathsala) and Muslims (madrasa), which he said was “defective and corrupted.” He appointed Thomas Babington Macaulay to chair a Committee of Public Instruction (English Education Act,1835). English also replaced Persian/Urdu in law courts.
In India, private (independent) schools can be governed by the state or the union government as education is in the Concurrent list of legislative subjects in Indian constitution. These schools are subject to Recognition (Certification) from the state government that sends out school inspectors to check infrastructure and teaching compliance.
This is clearly a source of corruption leading to failure to educate pupils in rural India and the interior of hill districts. And ultimately, poor academic achievements in state schools enable private schools to edge them out. Legally, only non-profit trusts and societies can run schools in India.
A study in 2004 in the UK by Prof Alice Sullivan et al, involving 7,700 school pupils found that private school pupils have many advantages over state school pupils, even though their academic ability is inferior, and regardless of their exam results.
They are more likely to graduate from an elite university, and almost one and half times more likely to graduate from a mainstream university than their state school peers.
Because of failing state schools, the British government is doing what Manmohan Singh had been trying to do before the advent of the BJP government. It is turning mainstream schools into Academies. These are independent, state-funded schools, which receive funding directly from the central government, rather than through provincial authorities but they are overseen by individual charitable bodies called Academy Trusts.
In Manipur, private schools teach in English, Hindi as well as in vernacular right from the Kindergarten stage giving the children a significant lead over their government school counterparts. With increased educational qualities they are suitably prepared for tertiary education anywhere in India.
Slowly Manipur is showing the way but with Private schools leading the way. Should this be a reason for the government to react and better the government backed schools is a matter of policy but if left untouched, it will change the educational landscape of Manipur forever.
Image used for representational purpose only