The All Tribal Students’ Union Manipur (ATSUM) has raised concern over the non-functioning of office of the Board of Secondary Education, Manipur for the past 19 days due to non-availability of the Secretary and Controller of Examination.
A press release by ATSUM Education Secretary, Kaikho Hopeson Mao on Tuesday questioned “the indifference of the government in this matter” that had caused “chaos”. The statement pointed out that absence of the said officers had created problems related to timely issuance of documents like “Migration certificate, Duplicate certificate, Verification, Registrations, Corrections, Examination, Syllabus, etc.”
The ATSUM statement further observed that the future of many students is at question now due to “precarious situation” caused by COVID-19 pandemic, and that such crisis demands “qualified and experience hands” in the office that is supposedly the “nerve centre of school education in the state”.
Besides, according to the release, precarious COVID-19 pandemic situation may not be favourable for “appointing of new Secretary and Controller”. In the light of these “facts and as per permissible rules”, the ATSUM recommended extension of service of the two retired officers “for at least 1 year”.
As the schools have been ordered to open on 27 January 2021 by the government, “HSLC exam would soon follow”, and as such the ATSUM observed that “it is extremely important to have the officers immediately in the office in the interests of the students”.
It could be recalled that the posts of the Secretary and Controller of Examination of the Board of Secondary Education, Manipur (BOSEM) had been lying vacant since December 28 after the expiry of their tenure on December 27. In a recent development, the Democratic Students Alliance of Manipur (DESAM) has locked the office of the Secretary and Controller of Examination of BOSEM, in protest against the government’s failure to fill the vacant posts.