Educational institutes closed for almost two months

Imphal, Nov 4 : Most educational institutes in the state continued to remain closed since September 9 in protest against alleged fake encounter killings by police personnel in the state.

The stir is on for almost two months now without seeing any sign of immediate solution.

The All Manipur Recognised Private Schools Coordination Committee has submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh urging him to open the schools immediately.

Doren Khabanganba, convenor of the committee, said if classes did not resume, the private schools would surrender recognition certificates issued by the government.

Doren further said as per guidelines minimum number of teaching days should be 160 for Class X and 180 for Class XII while in Manipur the classes end by February. Thus, only 90 days of classes for Class X, 35 for Class XI and 60 for Class XII could be completed. In such a scenario, if classes were not immediately started, students would lose one valuable year.

The committee set November 7 as the deadline to resolve the impasse after which it would surrender school certificates to the government.

Meanwhile, the students bodies of the state, All Manipur Students' Union AMSU, Manipuri Students Federation MSF and Kangleipak Students Association (KSA) stated that the ''right to life is more important than the right to education and there was no point in becoming highly qualified persons as people are killed in fake encounters repeatedly in the state by troops and police.'' The All Manipur Students' Guardians Organisation (AMSGO), Senior Citizens, Manipur, All Tribal Students' Union (ATSUM), Manipuri Students Federation (MSF) have appealed to all to bring an amicable solution to the matter as the academic life was seriously affected.

The Working Committee of Apunba Lup (WCAL) had launched a stir in the state protesting fake encounter killings, especially after the July 23 incident at Khwairamband Keithel, Imphal.

The protestors and agitating students were demanding the CM's resignation and dismissal of the involved police personnel.

--UNI

(c) 2009 Published with permission from United News of India.
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