Act of destruction

In a well co-ordinated and clinically executed act of destruction, miscreants set eight Government schools including one Government aided institution in the three hill districts of Senapati, Chandel and Ukhrul. In Chandel district, the schools which have been set on fire are Chandel Maha Union High School, Liwa Chaning High School, Chakpikarong High School and Machi High School. Four schools were also set on fire at Senapati district by the miscreants. The schools included Senapati High School (Govt aided), Sardar Patel HS, Maram Ashram HS and Mao-Maram Higher Secondary School.

At Ukhrul district the miscreants struck at Model High School in the district headquarters, Somdal High School and at Phungyar High School. The extent of damages suffered by these schools is yet to be worked out. Miscreants also tried to set on fire four other schools but timely action prevented the fire from spreading. The schools which were targeted but saved included Ukhrul Higher Secondary School, NK Kamjong High School, Kamjong High School and a school at Paomata and Purul in Senapati district. Tight security has been deployed at Ukhrul Higher Secondary School from today morning. As news of the arson reached the Govt, Chief Minister O Ibobi convened an emergency meeting with the Education Minister L Jayentakumar, Chief Secretary Jarnail Singh and Education Secretary to discus the matter. Following the meeting, the Government has instructed all the DCs, SPs and ADCs to take up the necessary measures to ensure that the chain of attack on the schools is not repeated. The district administrations have also been instructed to calculate the losses suffered in the acts of arson and submit a report by tomorrow. When The Sangai Express contacted the Education Minister today, he said that following the emergency meeting with the Chief Minister, the DGP has been asked to take up necessary security measures. The DGP has been asked to identify and book the culprits responsible for setting the schools on fire, added Jayentakumar. To prevent such incidents from spreading further, efforts are on to tie up with all the MLAs, irrespective of party affiliations, said Jayentakumar. "Since the summer vacation is on, students are away from the schools. However no efforts will be spared to ensure that the repairing work of the damaged schools are finalised before the end of the vacation," informed the Minister further. Jayentakumar said that he along with TD Minister DD Thaisii from Karong AC, K Raina, independent MLA from Tadubi , MLA Thorii, MLA Dr Ratan and MLA E Dwijamani will proceed to Senapati district tomorrow to get a first hand account of the damages suffered by the schools. On being asked whether the Government is mulling over any legal action, the Minister said that as of now there is no definite stand on this point but added that a suo moto case may be taken up even if no formal complaints are filed. The Minister added that the instructions given to the DGP to do the needful may be enough for the present. Taking a serious note of the incidents, the Minister said that burning down schools and educational institutions is against the interest of the students and added that such acts should have no place in a civilised society. Appealing to all to desist from such destructive acts, the Minister said that any differences can always be sorted out through talks and discussions and added that acts of destruction and violence can never bring any solution. The Minister also urged the local people to resist the agenda of such elements and to help in protecting schools and educational institutions from being vandalised. Significantly this is not the first time that schools in the hill districts have been systematically targeted. Some time back, last year, a number of schools in the hill districts were damaged and vandalised against the backdrop of the demand raised to affiliate the schools located in the four districts of Senapati, Chandel, Tamenglong and Ukhrul to the Nagaland Board of School Education. A number of books prescribed by the Board of Secondary Education, Manipur were also consigned to the flames during the agitation launched to demand the affiliation of these schools under the Board of the neighbouring State. On the other hand, no schools were torched or attacked at Tamenglong district. On being contacted the DC of the district said that the governing bodies of all the schools at Tamenglong have been asked to camp at their institutions during the night and alert the security force if anything amiss comes up. Security measures have been taken up and mobile posts have been opened to deal with any emergency cases, said the DC and added that the people will extend their co-operation.

The authority of the Senapati Government aided High School, which was among the two schools to be torched in the district by unidentified miscreants, has submitted a detailed report of the losses suffered by the school to the Zonal Education Officer of Senapati. The detailed list of the losses which was made available to the office of The Sangai Express said that six rooms of the school have been burnt. The other damages included 50 pairs of desk and benches, eight tables, 15 chairs, seven black boards, one type writer, one duplicating machine, two carrom boards, three football and volley ball with nets, two wall clocks, one bucket of 60 litre capacity and two buckets of 15 litres capacity. Urging the ZEO to do the needful, the school authority said that the miscreants struck at about 11 last night and urged the officer to do the needful at the earliest possible.

ANSAM justifes arson, says...
Meanwhile, the All Naga Students' Association, Manipur (ANSAM) has categorically said that the July 3 midnight incident of burning down numerous Government schools in the Manipur hill districts of Senapati, Ukhrul and Chandel was bound to happen. ANSAM leaders informed Newmai News Network that the "news of the burning down of Government high schools in the hill districts of Manipur does not come as a surprise; it was bound to happen. Indignation and discontentment had been building up for decades". However, ANSAM neither owned the responsibility nor deny carrying out the incidents. "The Manipur Government is naïve enough to think that this is just a law and order problem. No. This is a complicated socio-political problem, and must be dealt with accordingly. This is an issue involving two distinct entities – the Tribal in the Hills and the Meiteis in the Valley," explained the Naga students' body. It then pointed out that the problem had already started long ago "when the valley people took advantage of the simplicity of the tribals and began arbitrarily framing policies to keep them under subjugation.

The Meitei dominated Government has been surreptitiously making plans to occupy the hill areas through so called various urbanization policies – the latest being the attempt to convert Moreh into a Municipality border town". The Naga students added, "Again, with the aid of the State machinery, the Meitei language and script was imposed on the tribals, threatening their very existence. On 24th April, 1979 , the Manipur Official Language Bill was passed making Meiteilon (Meitei language) the official language of the State; the use of the English Language was to be progressively restricted". The ANSAM while citing the chronicle of the issue, said that in 1983, a notification was issued making Meiteilon a compulsory subject in all schools (and it still is). "That was not enough, in 1989 Meiteilon was made a compulsory MIL paper in the Civil Service Exam (UPSC) to discourage the tribals from appearing at it. This, however, was shelved for the time being following a legal petition filed by the All Tribal Students Union Manipur (ATSUM)", said the ANSAM statement. It then alleged that a plan was made to forcibly assimilate the tribals (culturally, linguistically and historically) into the dominant "Meitei stream" by imposing the State syllabus in all schools under Board of School Education Manipur (BSEM), adding, "To prevent any school from seeking affiliation to other better Boards like Nagaland Board of School Education (NBSE), CBSE etc, a cabinet decision was taken on 7th January, 2004 , denying NOC to all private schools". The Naga students' statement also added that on May 14, 2005 , the State Cabinet again decided to make the newly concocted Meitei Mayek (Meitei Script) compulsory in all schools in Manipur; this was to be introduced in a phased manner. "Moreover, after Manipur University (M.U.) was converted to a Central University, the Meitei dominated Manipur Government craftily reduced the tribal quota from 33% to 7.5% by applying the all India reservation ratio, notwithstanding the fact that the tribal population in Manipur is very high. Could this be the beginning of the impending catharsis? If this is the case, then, the government should find out the root cause of the problem as to why it has happened instead of using military might to suppress every symptom by trying to find out who has made it happened," fumed the All Naga Students Association,Manipur.

Edn Minister inspects remains of burnt schools
A team of MLAs led by Education Minister L Jayentakumar inspected the remains of the schools burnt down by unidentified miscreants at Senapati district. In all, 11 schools were torched in a well co-ordinated move between 11 pm and 1 am in the intervening nights of July 3 and 4 in the three hill districts of Senapati, Chandel and Ukhrul. At Senapati district the team led by Jayentakumar inspected Senapati Govt Aided High School, Sardar Patel High School (Mao), Mao-Maram Higher Secondary School (Tadubi) and Maram Ashram School. Against the backdrop of the losses inflicted by the anti-social elements, the Minister and the MLAs met members of the school committees, teachers and villagers to discuss the steps to be taken up to avert such mindless acts of arson. Addressing the people of the district, the Education Minister made it clear that the act of setting the schools on fire is not merely a case of crime as it entails detailed planning and co-ordination. While condemning the incidents, the Minister however assured that no efforts will be spared by the Government to repair all the damaged schools, not only in Senapati but also in the other two districts of Chandel and Ukhrul. Reiterating his earlier assurances, the Minister said that the repairing works will be completed before the end of the summer vacation. At the moment the students are away from the schools as the summer vacation is still on. In the same tone, the Education Minister also urged the local people to be wary of such destructive elements and to thwart all their game plans to go on a destruction spree. On the question who could be behind the acts of arson, Jayentakumar struck a diplomatic pose and replied, "At the moment nothing is clear on who were behind these acts of arson". The police have already registered a case in connection with the arsons and the action will be taken up according to the law of the land once the culprits are identified, he added. At Senapati aided Government High School, the fire destroyed three rooms while the rest of the building was saved by the local people. The alert public of Mao was able to save the Sardar Patel High School from suffering extensive damages. The arsonists were also chased away by the public. Majority of the building portions of Mao Maram Higher Secondary School at Tadubi were found damaged. The files and documents kept at the room of the Headmaster were also put on fire. Speaking to the visiting media team, a Class X student of Mao Maram Higher Secondary School at Tadubi, Th Sowo said that he was heart broken when he saw his school being damaged extensively. Villagers said that despite the many shortages of the three schools, these are the only temples of learning for their children. The Minister, MLAs and officials who accompanied the Education Minister to Senapati included TD Minister DD Thaisii, MLA K Raina, MLA Thorii, MLA E Dwijamani, MLA Haokholet Kipgen, DC of Senapati Dr Prem and officials of the Education Department.

UNC endorses ANSAM's stand
On the other hand, the United Naga Council (UNC), which is spearheading the Naga integration movement, has endorsed the stand of All Naga Students' Association, Manipur (ANSAM) to affiliate all the private schools in the four hill districts of Manipur with the Nagaland Board of School Education (NBSE). Publicity secretary of UNC S Milan said the Council also endorsed the statement of ANSAM. ''Since the matter relates to the student community we endorsed ANSAM, our constituent body to launch its campaign," Milan said, adding that ANSAM leaders know best on how to proceed with their demand. Though ANSAM has neither owned responsibility for torching 11 Government schools nor denied carrying out the arson, it had justified the act saying that it was bound to happen due to the Government's wrong education policy. During a meeting of the entire Naga civil organisation held at Senapati in the latter part of 2005 it had been decided that a movement would be launched for getting the private schools in the four hill districts of Senapati, Chandel, Ukhrul and Tamenglong affiliated with the Nagaland Board. On being asked about the torching of 11 Government school buildings, Milan said ''it might be the outburst of pent up anger of the agitators against the attitude of the Government of Manipur. It might also be an action plan to hit the bull's eye''. When asked whether UNC, the apex body of Naga civil organisations, plans to talk with the State Government over the issue, Milan quipped 'we don't need to talk with Manipur Government but the latter should understand the collective Naga's issue and act upon it accordingly'. Since UNC has already launched a non-cooperation movement against Manipur Government, there is no question of talks', Milan said, and hastened to add 'as of now, there is no specific programme of the UNC's non-cooperation movement'. Milan informed that UNC would hold its periodical election in December this year. The election has been necessitated after the Council's president resigned from his post recently. Its speaker Samson Ramei is currently holding the president's charge following the resignation of Paul Leo.

Gaikhangam blasts arsonists
Taking grim note of unidentified persons burning down 11 Government schools in three hill districts recently, president of Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee (I) Gaikhangam opined that the SPF Government need no longer remain silent. Rather than watch the situation meekly as is evident at the moment, existence of a Govt should be proved through appropriate action to allay perception that guilty persons could still remain at large owing to inaction of the Government. Talking to The Sangai Express today, Gaikhangam desiring stern action against the miscreants explained that under relevant laws governing damage caused to public property, the guilty could be booked and slapped penalty. Reiterating call for prompt action and strongly condemning the act of arson, the State Congress chief construed destruction of educational institutions as handiwork of anti-social elements whose action would only impede progress of education for the society. Asserting that actions of such elements is an affront to the student community with consequences in all probability threatening academic aspiration of students, Gaikhangam reminded that any act of causing damage to public property also tantamount to destroying an individuals own wealth. Referring to effort/movement for affiliation of hill district schools to a board of another State despite existence of Manipur’s own competent Board, he opined that the pursuit not only smacks of vision but would also not materialise. Calling upon those actively involved in imposing their will in the pursuit of the affiliation agenda, Gaikhangam posed whether persons responsible for destroying the schools would be willing to shoulder responsibility for denying education to the affected students. Appealing to the miscreants to refrain from furthering non-practicable and infeasible pursuits, he fervently urged for ensuring conducive atmosphere to students aspiring for excel in their chosen field.

Rally protests torching of schools
Meanwhile, in protest against the burning down of 11 Government schools in the three hill districts of Manipur in the intervening nights of July 3 and 4 and denouncing the justification given by All Naga Students' Association, Manipur (ANSAM) for the acts of arson, leaders of various civil organisations took out a rally here today. After the protest rally, a memorandum was also submitted to the Chief Minister demanding a white paper on the matter. The protest rally attended by leaders of various civil organisations like HERICOUN, MEELAL, TIPS, WACAK, DESAM among others commenced from Iboyaima Shumang Leela Sanglen at Palace.

However, timely arrival of a reinforcement of police force managed to control the situation. Afterward, a four-member team was allowed to meet Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh to hand over the memorandum demanding 'a white paper on the infamous issue of setting a number of Government schools in the hill districts of Senapati, Ukhrul and Chandel and the subsequent justification of the organised crime by Naga Students' Association, Manipur (ANSAM)'. Decrying the unfortunate incident of burning down the Government schools in the three hill districts, the memorandum maintained that it was an act of political conspiracy and organised crime. 'But the most unfortunate thing is the hurried justification of the crime by an organisation, surprisingly a student body feeding upon distorted facts and misdirected frenzy', the memorandum said, adding that the Government is required to answer to the allegation made by the student body promptly indifference could 'harden the lies into legacy and transform fiction into facts'. Reacting to the claim of ANSAM that 'this is an issue involving two distinct entities the tribals in the hills and the Meiteis in the valley', the memorandum asserted that the very claim is quite contradictory to the existing and accepted histories and chronicles of the land. 'If the division was made on the mere and very recent fact that the people in the hills are mostly Christians and those in the valley are mostly Hindus, which is only a non-assailable phenomena, then it is most unhistoric and illogical. One should be aware of the fact that there are fairly a large number of villages and towns inhabited by our brethren initially from the hills now and their percentage is increasing day by day. More than 70 percent of the high administrative posts and positions are being held by the people from the hills. In the political history of Manipur too, after attaining full-fledged Statehood in 1972, the office of the Chief Minister has been held for more number of years by representatives from the hills and even from the minority Muslim community. As to the charge that the passing of Manipur Official Language Bill making Meiteilon the official language of the State was an act of threatening the very existence of tribal dialects, the memorandum categorically stated it is compounding of all right thinking reasons. The memorandum recalled that it was 'our own honourable and illustrious Rishang Keishing, the then Chief Minister of Manipur, who deeply feeling the need of doing so, passed the Bill on the unanimous approval of the House'. 'Linguistically speaking, no individual nor race can claim a birth right to a language. It is the property of the speaker. Meiteilon, as it happens to be lingua-franca within the State between the ethnic communities, is at the best advantage of all of us to become the State official language. Linguistic discrimination is an outdated, non-historic and irrational miscarriage of the benefits inherent in the use of the language. It is wrong to conceived Meiteilon as the sole property of the Meiteis or English as those of Teutonic (Germanic) people only. Moreover, major tribal dialects are enjoying maximum promotion through school and university curriculum, print and electronic media, cultural and literary projects and programmes, the memorandum pointed out. In connection with the allegation that Meiteilon has been made a compulsory MIL paper in Civil Service Examination (UPSC) to discourage tribals from appearing in it, the memorandum said that the falsity of the allegation can be confirmed through a phone call either to the MPSC office or the UPSC office within a matter of minutes. 'Only really wonders whether this allegation has been made out of sheer ignorance or through conspired distortion or concealment of facts which we fear, may be of little effect in this age of cell phones and internet services', the memorandum said. As to the charge that the Govt of Manipur prevents any Govt school from getting affiliated to Nagaland Board of Secondary Education (NBSE), which the student body claims to be better than the Board of Secondary Education, Manipur (BSEM), the memorandum said keeping aside the unfounded claim of one Board to be better than the other without assigning any reason or logic, it is necessary to just flip through some pages of Indian Constitution or make just a phone call to an MP or MLA or a student of political science to ascertain education as a State subject of the Constitutional authority and discretion of which are totally in the purview of the State Govt in consultation with the Central Govt. 'The recent performance of our students in the NBSE examination and the consequent certifying of them as private candidates which has severely damaged the precious career of the students should help us to mend our wrongs', the memorandum said. The allegation that Meitei Mayek has been imposed on all Government schools in Manipur is again very untrue, the memorandum said, adding that inspite of repeated clarification made regarding the non-imposition of the Meitei Mayek in all the schools of Manipur, this allegation remains deriving blood from some vested political interests. 'It is an apolitical attempt to make an issue out of a non-issue. Flogging a dead horse would hardly make it run', the memorandum said. The memorandum further said it is true that the tribal quota in Manipur University has been reduced from 33 percent to 7.5 percent, of course, Constitutionally not craftily. 'One should know the reality that the Government of Manipur is much below the power of overlooking the fact that Manipur University is now a Central University headed by His Excellency, the President of India and it has to strictly abide by the rules and regulations adopted for a centrally run University. The same thing exist in all the Central Universities in India to which Manipur University, in no case, can be an exception', the memorandum said. Taking note of the objection to the Government's plan to convert the border town of Moreh into a Municipality, the memorandum pointed out that this has been a long cherished demand of the people of Moreh in particular and the people of Manipur in general. 'Keeping in view the upcoming process of international trade and commerce, globalisation, Trans-Asia Railway line passing through Moreh, is it not a matter of celebration rather then mourning to the proposal for upgrading Moreh into a Municipal border town?', the memorandum questioned, adding that the present and modern trend is that of urbanisation and globalisation the deviation from which would prove fatal to all of us.

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