Ministerial team visits Senapati schools destroyed in arson

The Imphal Free Press

IMPHAL, Jul 5: A team of ministers and MLAs today made a tour of the government and government aided schools located in Senapati district which were burnt down in acts of arson on Tuesday night, suspected to be the handiwork of volunteers of the All Naga Students Association, Manipur, ANSAM, to take stock of the damage done.

As many as seven government run schools in the Naga dominated hill districts of Manipur were set ablaze on Tuesday night by miscreants suspected to be volunteers of ANSAM in a move believed to be linked with the student body`s campaign for switching syllabus of the Nagaland board in these district.

However, so far no one has owned responsibility for the arson.

Of the seven schools, three were in Senapati district, three in Ukhrul and one in Chandel district

The team which visited the ill-fated schools today included the education minister, L Jayentakumar, tribal development minister and Karong MLA DD Thaisii, and MLAs K Raina, M Thorii, and E Dwijamani. They were accompanied by the additional director, education (hills), and other officials of the education department.

The first school visited, the Senapati aided high school, which happens to be the only government/government aided school in the district headquarters, was found with three of its classrooms badly damaged.

The school, incidentally, had fielded 47 candidates in this year`s HSLC examination conducted by the Manipur board, of whom 40 students passed, 14 of them in the first division.

Local people said they heard a loud sound late on Tuesday night, and when they came out they saw the school was on fire. Though they failed to save the three kucha classrooms, they managed to save the pucca portion of the school buildings, they informed.

Representatives of the school management committee, while speaking to the visiting team, wanted the school to be converted as a full-fledged government school and the vacant posts filled up before reopening the school.

The Senapati village chief also said the arson had taken place because of `jealousy` over the school`s strong performance in the HSLC examination, and strongly condemned the deed.

Education minister L Jayentakumar pledged that reconstruction of the razed classrooms would be taken up before July 17. He also said the work would be given to the village authority or to the school management committee rather than a private contractor.

The team thereafter visited the Sardar Patel High School, Mao, where not much damage was done, as the local public were able put out the fire in time. Villagers said they tried to catch the miscreants responsible, but they managed to escape under cover of the darkness.

The headmaster of the Sardar Patel high school in the meantime submitted a memorandum to the education minister, urging for complete reconstruction of the school building at an alternative site.

On their return journey, the team also visited the Mao-Maram governemnt higher secondary school, where the office of the headmistress was found to have sustained serious damage. Furniture in six classrooms were also completely burnt.

The headmistress of the school also submitted a memorandum drawing the attention of the education ministers to the urgent needs of the school, including reconstruction of the school building, construction of fencing, and construction of a school hall.

The team also visited the Maram Ashram School, a portion of which had also been burnt down.

Education miniser L Jayentakumar, addressing mediapersons at the office chambers of the DC, Senapati, said the state government took the arson versy seriously, and the SP, Senapati has been asked to take appropriate action.

Expressing confidence that the police will make arrests soon, he said they will be appropriately punished. The minister added that the government is considering deployment of more police personnel at the district headquarters.

In the meantime, All Manipur Government Higher Secondary Lecturers` Welfare Association, strongly condemning that act of the miscreants, has appealed to the organizations responsible for burning down the schools to review their step.

The statement issued by the association also urged the state government to review the law and order situation and take up appropriate action to check further razing down of government schools.

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