Educational Development in Manipur: Interface with Conflict
Marchang
Reimeingam, Komol Singha and Saju
Mathew
For citation: Marchang Reimeingam, Komol Singha and Saju Mathew, “Educational Development in Manipur: Interface with Conflict”, National Seminar on The Impact of Violence on Women and Children in
Conflict Areas in India with Particular Reference to Northeast, Organized
by St. Joseph’s College Nagaland and TISS Guwahati, St. Joseph’s College Nagaland, 21-22 September 2012, (pp. 1-19).
Abstract
Education is the
cornerstone of socio-economic and cultural development of a country. It has
emerged as the most important single input in promoting human resource
development, achieving rapid economic development and technological progress,
and creating a social order based on the virtues of freedom, social justice and
equal opportunities in the country. Literacy
rate in Manipur has increased considerably compared to national level in the
past two decades. Also, the performance of education level especially for the
female in Manipur is found to be relatively better than the national level.
Conflict and ethnic violence seemingly does not affect much on the performance
of education of Manipur, as people give more emphasis on education. The present
study reveals that the insurgency related fatalities do not have strong
correlations with education related variables. However, the prevailing law and
order condition in Manipur caused to migration for education.
Key Words: Conflict; Education; Manipur
JEL Code: I24, I25, I28
“An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even
how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you do know
and what you don't” –Anatole
France
1. Introduction:
Education is the cornerstone of
socio-economic and cultural development of a country. It has emerged as the
most important single input in promoting human resource development, achieving
rapid economic development and technological progress, and creating a social
order based on the virtues of freedom, social justice and equal opportunities
in the country (Singha, 2010; Reddy, 2008; Gill, et al., 2005). Also, it plays a vital role in the present world, for
not only raising the standard of living but also a mechanism to prevent
conflict situation. However, the study of nexus between education and
conflict resolution is a very recent phenomenon, and limited research has been
done in this issue (Gates and Strand, 2012). In 2007, Brendan O’Malley’s work,
‘Education under Attack’ published by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
is considered as the first ever study of its kind (UNESCO, 2010), and the role
of education on conflict resolution is still highly debated. Many scholars (e.g.
Boyden, et al.,
2002) have opined that the education often leads to highly
complex conflict situation in the world, and it is found to be true in the recent
spurt of conflicts in all over the globe. Although, some
papers have tried to estimate the link between educational outcomes and
violence, through regression analysis, no formal model has been developed yet
(Brrera and Ibenez, 2004).
Manipur, one of the states of
India’s North Eastern Region (NER)[1] is situated in the eastern-most corner of the country, bordering
Myanmar (Burma) in the east, and three Indian State- Nagaland in
the north, Assam in the west and Mizoram in the south. The State is endowed with rich natural resources and has a long history of
geo-political development in the region (Tensuba, 1993). Unfortunately, at
present, the State is passing through different social turmoil, ethnic violence
and social upheavals, etc, ranging from insurgency for
secession to the movement for greater autonomy, from sponsored terrorism to ethnic
clashes and the fight over resources (Sharma, 2011; Bohlken and Sergenti, 2010; Mentschel, 2007). Often, frequent
eruption of violence and conflict that arises from the different ethnic
communities in search of and to assert their identities, disturb educational environment
in the State. At the same time, education and student organisations try to
mitigate the conflict situations that arise due to different factors.
2. Objectives and Methodology:
Conflict and violence has
concurrently rife with the increased in educational attainment in all levels.
It affects the lives in terms of economic such as hunger or poverty or
joblessness, social like deprived or homeless or widow and psychology such as
fear or security of all people. Conflict does not sparkle from the ethnic
issues alone but also from the failure of government in giving attention and
delivering justices. Whatsoever the reason, conflict affects educational
environment directly or indirectly.
The present study tries to explore
the relationship between the growth of education and conflict in the State of
Manipur. An analysis has also been made that whether education curtails
conflict or conflict restrains educational development. The type of conflict that
affects educational growth on the one hand and the type of education that
curtails conflict on the other are also discussed.
To analyse the above mentioned
objectives, both primary and secondary data are used. The primary data are
collected in the month of June-July 2012, from fifty-two Manipuri students who
are presently studying in Bangalore (India). However, the secondary data are collected
from the published sources like Directorate of Economics and Statistics,
Registrar General and Census Commissioner, National Sample
Survey data, etc. The collected data have been processed by employing
simple statistical methods like correlation, frequency distribution and change
rate over time, etc.
3. Literature Review:
As Wu Ting Fang, a renowned
Chinese scholar said, “Education is like a double-edged sword. It may be turned
to dangerous uses if it is not properly handled”, it is very difficult to draw
a direction of causality between education and conflict in the present world. Dupuy (2008) highlighted, based on fieldwork conducted
in three countries of Guatemala, Nepal and Liberia, that there are number of
ways in which education is contributing to building the conditions for
long-term, positive peace in those countries. However, in the findings of Bird (2006), the access to formal schooling may often be jeopardised
by the conflicts. According to Patricia (2010), a relatively minor shock to
educational access can lead to significant and long-lasting detrimental effects
on individual human capital formation in terms of educational attainment,
health outcomes and labour market opportunities.
Smith (2010) pointed that education
may be a driver of conflict that fuelling grievances, stereotypes, xenophobia
and other antagonisms but can also be a way of contributing to conflict
transformation and peace building. Education can play the role of preventive
during peaceful situation, protective during violent conflict situation and
social transformative in a situation where peace processes are underway. Violent conflict free situation requires teaching children
peaceful approaches to conflict resolution, reducing poverty level, lowering
economic inequality and good governance.
Patricia (2010) established that
general civil wars have a negative impact on educational attainments. It
affects to the education particularly the children and girls. Children and
girls are more vulnerable in violent conflict. The tendency to drop out from
the school is relatively high for them as compared to the boys. There is a
significant and negative effect on the enrolment of girls at times of conflict.
During conflict, the formal educational system becomes informal system with a
thin demarcation between the systems. However, one of the seminal works on the
issue by UNESCO explored that education can help in banishing prejudices and
tensions that exist, especially between communities, and possibly even prevent
any such conflict in the future (Sinclair, 2002).
In a similar manner, Agbor (2011) using an
aggregated measure of all intra-state major episodes of
political violence obtained from the Political Instability Task Force (PITF) as
proxy for conflict, and controlling some other variables; explored that
education effectively reduces the likelihood of intra-state conflicts in
Africa. Using a cross-sectional survey in Colombia, Brrera and
Ibenez (2004) found that the school enrollment decreases as homicide rates rise
in Colombian municipalities. Further, they identified three channels through
which violence affects education. First, violence can affect directly the utility
of households and, therefore, it may modify the consumption of education. Second,
extreme violence can destroy physical capital and create uncertainty, which
will lower investment and production. In the long run, destruction of physical
assets and drop in investment impact the income of households who in turn must
reduce consumption and cutback investments in education. Third, violence can
modify the rates of return of education, and therefore, can change the
investment on education.
On the other side, Seitz (2004) opined
that the formal education system contributes to exacerbating and escalating
societal conflicts in particular when it produces and reproduces socio-economic
disparities and brings about social marginalization or deprivation or promotes
the teaching of identity and citizenship concepts which deny the cultural
plurality of society and which then lead to intolerance towards the others. In
the study of Boyden, et
al. (2002), found that the Jihadi Terrorism in all over the world,
is an outcome of the greater effort made in education by Madrassa system.
For instances, the very system of education in the North West Frontier Province
of Pakistan provides an example of education used for very particular,
ideological ends that may have strong implications for the reinforcement of
conflict.
Many
studies have pointed that the children are used as
civilian shields to protect military forces or as army pack animals. They are
forced to become soldiers, army slaves or prostitutes under threat of violence (Levy and Parker,
2000). In the study of Mann (1987) also found that there is an increasing use
of children in armed conflicts, particularly in Indo-China during the 1960s.
The wars in Indo-China and elsewhere had seen a growing number of children used
in a variety of capacities. Therefore, fear of parents abounds in all over the world that
their children will be recruited by the forces- state or rebel group. For
instances, many children have been recruited by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka (Boyden, et al.,
2002); in Somali (Richards and Bekele (2011) on their way to or at school. Moreover,
the examination of the situation of children affected by armed conflicts, to
date, has been little reported on (Boyden, et al., 2002).
4. Conflict in Manipur[2]:
Manipur is facing the onslaught of
armed conflicts, ethnic violence and social upheavals, etc, and it led the overall development process of the State to
ransom. Even if we do not trace the factors, the type of conflicts that have
been crippling the State’s development institutions can be classified into
three types as follows.
(i). Intra-ethnic Conflict: It
refers to the conflict that arises within an ethnic group such as
between the Kuki and Hmar in 1960 and between the Thadou Kuki and Paite Zomi in
1997 to 1998, within the generic ethnic group commonly known as the Chin-Kuki.
The issue of nomenclature was the basis of these conflicts.
(ii). Inter-ethnic Conflict: Here,
the conflict is between two or more ethnic groups, such as that between Naga and
Kuki tribes in 1992 and subsequently between the Meitei and the Pangal in the
valley in 1993. From the Table 1 we can find that
approximately 42 thousand populations have been displaced by different identified
communal/ethnic conflicts as compared to the small population of the State
(18.3 lakh and 23.8 lakh in 1991 and 2001 census respectively). There are
number of other indirect effect of internal conflict as well, that leads to
displacement of the many people in the State.
Table 1: Internal Conflict and
Population Displacement in Manipur
|
Year of
Conflict
(Inter and
Intra-Community)
|
Conflict
Between the
Communities
|
Approx. Population
Displaced
|
|
1992
|
Kuki–Naga ethnic
|
11,000
|
|
1993-1997
|
Kuki–Zomi
conflict
|
15,000
|
|
-do-
|
Thadou–Paite
conflict
|
7500
|
|
-do-
|
Meitei–Pangal
(Meitei Muslim)
|
1000
|
|
2001
|
Naga Ceasefire
Extension
|
7000
|
|
Total
|
--
|
41,500
|
Source: Kumar, et al.
(2011)
(iii). State versus Society: Here, the conflict is directed against the
state. The Indian army, including the Assam Rifles, the Border Security Force,
the Central Reserve Police Force and the Manipur Police, is currently engaged
in fighting against armed rebels in Manipur.
With the growth
of separatist movement, Manipur was declared as a
‘disturbed area’ in 1980 (Harriss, 2002) and subsequently the Armed Forces
(Special Powers) Act 1958 was imposed. There are allegations of the very Act
(AFSPA) being misused by the members of the state forces, as the Act allows
them to kill anybody in mere suspicion of anti-national. Also, the Act
permits/allows even the lowest rank of security force (an illiterate Sepoy) to
kill anybody on a mere suspect of anti-national, and no complain can be made
against them. Besides killing, there have been number of cases of enforced disappearances
of young children by the state forces (Manoharan, 2012).
Table 2: Number of Fatalities
in Manipur
|
Year
|
Civilian
|
Security
|
Terrorist
|
Total
|
Manipur %
NER#
|
Total NER
|
Manipur%
India#
|
Total India
|
|
2000
|
93
|
51
|
102
|
246
|
18
|
1367
|
5
|
4975
|
|
2001
|
70
|
25
|
161
|
256
|
24
|
1067
|
4
|
5839
|
|
2002
|
36
|
53
|
101
|
190
|
26
|
731
|
5
|
3973
|
|
2003
|
27
|
23
|
148
|
198
|
22
|
900
|
5
|
3702
|
|
2004
|
40
|
41
|
127
|
208
|
34
|
612
|
8
|
2642*
|
|
2005
|
138
|
50
|
143
|
331
|
46
|
720
|
10
|
3259
|
|
2006
|
107
|
37
|
141
|
285
|
45
|
633
|
10
|
2770
|
|
2007
|
150
|
40
|
218
|
408
|
39
|
1046
|
16
|
2615
|
|
2008
|
131
|
13
|
341
|
485
|
46
|
1054
|
19
|
2619
|
|
2009
|
77
|
18
|
321
|
416
|
49
|
849
|
19
|
2232
|
|
2010
|
26
|
8
|
104
|
138
|
43
|
321
|
7
|
1902
|
|
2011
|
25
|
10
|
30
|
65
|
26
|
250
|
6
|
1074
|
|
Average
|
77
|
31
|
161
|
269
|
34
|
796
|
9
|
3134
|
Note: #Authors’ Estimation from SATP (2012); *
Data till 2004 does not include Fatalities in Left-wing Extremism
Source: South Asia Terrorism Portal (2012)
Table 2 shows the volume of violence related fatalities
and the share of State’s fatalities to the total North Eastern Region (8
States). About 34 percent of the region’s total fatalities have been contributed
by Manipur in the last ten years. As a result of which, at present in Manipur,
a large section of people are living in a web of insecurities which are not induced
by them. People of the State are grappling
between the forces – state and insurgency groups, and ethnic groups; insurgency
groups, etc.
5. Education in Manipur:
In Manipur, irrespective of the
persistent stirring of violence and conflict, the rate of literacy has
increased substantially for both males and females across the areas over the last
two decades. When we compared to the national trend, growth trend of literacy
rate in the last two decades, particularly for the rural area is highly
appreciable. Despite poor road and communication infrastructure, people of Manipur
have shown great enthusiasm in acquiring education and knowledge. Also, the performance
of women especially in the rural area is very significant, and is much higher
than the national level (refer to Table 3).
|
Table
3: Literacy Rate (%)
|
|||||||
|
State/ India
|
Year
|
Rural
|
Urban
|
||||
|
Male
|
Female
|
Person
|
Male
|
Female
|
Person
|
||
|
Manipur
|
2009-10
|
83.5
|
74.4
|
79.1
|
86.3
|
77.5
|
82.1
|
|
2004-05
|
80.0
|
66.5
|
73.3
|
85.4
|
75.1
|
80.3
|
|
|
1999-00
|
68.5
|
56.6
|
62.8
|
84.7
|
74.1
|
79.4
|
|
|
1993-94
|
71.9
|
56.1
|
64.0
|
83.8
|
68.2
|
76.0
|
|
|
India
|
2009-10
|
70.5
|
53.2
|
62.1
|
83.5
|
73.4
|
78.6
|
|
2004-05
|
63.5
|
44.9
|
54.5
|
80.5
|
69.3
|
75.1
|
|
|
1999-00
|
58.5
|
38.5
|
48.6
|
78.2
|
65.6
|
72.0
|
|
|
1993-94
|
54.4
|
32.0
|
43.5
|
75.8
|
61.5
|
69.0
|
|
Source:
NSS 50th Round (1993-94) Report No. 409, 55th Round
(1999-00) Report No. 458, 61st Round (2004-05) Report No. 515 (1)
and 66th (2009-10) Round Report No.537.
In the early nineties, about 75 percent of the literate population
of the State have studied upto middle level and the rest acquired secondary and
above education in rural areas in Manipur. However, in the case of national
level, about 85 percent of total literate populations have studied upto middle
level and the rest about 15 percent attained more than secondary during the
same period in rural areas. Over the years, with the increase in government
expenditure on education and the increase in the aspiration of formal employment,
eventually the educated, who have completed secondary and above, has grown
significantly touching about 38 percent in Manipur, against the level of less
than quarter of the literates at the national level, in rural areas during
2009-10. Larger proportion of people from Manipur has attained secondary and
above, against the national level. It indicates a relatively more educated in
Manipur than at the national level in rural areas.
|
Table
4: Percentage Distribution of Literate Persons by General Educational Level
|
|||||||||||
|
State/ India
|
Area
|
Year
|
Male
|
Female
|
Person
|
||||||
|
upto primary
|
upto middle
|
secondary & above
|
upto primary
|
upto middle
|
secondary & above
|
upto primary
|
upto middle
|
secondary & above
|
|||
|
Manipur
|
Rural
|
2009-10
|
30.8
|
26.3
|
42.9
|
39.1
|
29.3
|
31.6
|
34.6
|
27.7
|
37.7
|
|
2004-05
|
45.1
|
26.8
|
28.1
|
54.1
|
24.8
|
21.1
|
49.1
|
25.9
|
25.0
|
||
|
1999-00
|
39.9
|
28.5
|
31.7
|
50.9
|
26.7
|
22.4
|
44.6
|
27.7
|
27.7
|
||
|
1993-94
|
46.5
|
24.8
|
28.8
|
59.7
|
19.8
|
20.5
|
52.2
|
22.7
|
25.2
|
||
|
Urban
|
2009-10
|
26.9
|
17.7
|
55.4
|
28.5
|
24.0
|
47.5
|
27.6
|
20.6
|
51.8
|
|
|
2004-05
|
33.8
|
17.6
|
48.6
|
38.9
|
21.3
|
39.8
|
36.2
|
19.3
|
44.5
|
||
|
1999-00
|
31.3
|
18.4
|
50.3
|
36.4
|
23.9
|
39.7
|
33.5
|
20.9
|
45.6
|
||
|
1993-94
|
38.4
|
18.4
|
43.2
|
44.6
|
23.2
|
32.3
|
41.2
|
20.5
|
38.3
|
||
|
India
|
Rural
|
2009-10
|
50.6
|
22.7
|
26.7
|
59.8
|
20.9
|
19.4
|
54.4
|
21.9
|
23.7
|
|
2004-05
|
56.9
|
22.0
|
21.1
|
65.3
|
19.8
|
14.9
|
60.2
|
21.1
|
18.7
|
||
|
1999-00
|
58.5
|
21.5
|
20.0
|
67.5
|
19.5
|
13.0
|
62.1
|
20.8
|
17.1
|
||
|
1993-94
|
61.9
|
20.0
|
18.0
|
71.9
|
17.5
|
10.6
|
65.5
|
19.1
|
15.4
|
||
|
Urban
|
2009-10
|
32.8
|
18.0
|
49.2
|
36.8
|
18.5
|
44.7
|
34.6
|
18.2
|
47.2
|
|
|
2004-05
|
37.3
|
19.9
|
42.9
|
42.4
|
20.8
|
36.8
|
39.5
|
20.2
|
40.2
|
||
|
1999-00
|
39.5
|
19.9
|
40.5
|
45.6
|
20.1
|
34.3
|
41.9
|
20.1
|
37.9
|
||
|
1993-94
|
43.8
|
19.1
|
37.1
|
50.4
|
19.2
|
30.4
|
46.7
|
19.1
|
34.2
|
||
Note:
Literates given per 1000 distribution of persons by general educational level
is sum up; then each level of education is divided by the total literate in
percentage term.
Source:
Authors calculation based on data from NSS 50th Round (1993-94)
Report No. 409, 55th Round (1999-00) Report No. 458, 61st
Round (2004-05) Report No. 515 (1) and 66th (2009-10) Round Report
No.537.
From the Table 4 we can clearly see that a larger proportion of male
than female have attained secondary and above level of education in Manipur when
compared to the national level. For example, during 1993-94, about 32 percent
of the female against about 43 percent of males completed secondary and above
level of education in urban Manipur. It indicates that males, the family bread
earners, are more educated as patriarchal system is practiced in the State.
Males seemingly are more enthusiastic and perseverance than female counterpart
in the sphere of learning and education despite the odds of discrimination.
Further, people from Manipur were more educated as its proportion of secondary
and above level of education were far greater than the national level for both
males and females particularly in rural areas. For example, about 43 percent of
the males attained secondary and above education level in Manipur, against
about 27 percent at the national level in rural areas during 2009-10.
As far as the district level
literacy rate is concern, the hill districts namely – Senapati, Chandel, Ukhrul,
Churachandpur and Tamenglong have better improvement in the literacy rate in
the last decade (2001 to 2011). However, in the previous decade from 1991 to
2001, the change in the literacy rate has been in the favour of valley
districts like Bisnupur and Thoubal (refer to Table 5).
Table 5: Literacy
Rates (%) of Manipur and Districts from 1981-2011
|
State/district
|
1981
|
1991
|
2001
|
Change
|
2011
|
Change
|
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
4-3
|
5
|
5-4
|
|
Senapati
|
36.05
|
46.04
|
50.47
|
4.43
|
75.00
|
24.53
|
|
Tamenglong
|
44.22
|
50.16
|
58.56
|
8.40
|
70.40
|
11.84
|
|
Churachandpur
|
54.34
|
58.17
|
74.67
|
16.50
|
84.29
|
9.62
|
|
Bishnupur
|
39.23
|
54.94
|
71.59
|
16.65
|
76.35
|
4.76
|
|
Thoubal
|
41.13
|
52.47
|
67.9
|
15.43
|
76.66
|
8.76
|
|
Imphal West
|
*
|
73.01
|
80.61
|
7.60
|
86.70
|
6.09
|
|
Imphal East
|
*
|
68.05
|
76.38
|
8.33
|
82.81
|
6.43
|
|
Ukhrul
|
49.94
|
62.54
|
68.96
|
6.42
|
81.87
|
12.91
|
|
Chandel
|
39.51
|
46.68
|
57.38
|
10.70
|
70.85
|
13.47
|
|
Manipur
|
49.66
|
59.89
|
68.87
|
8.98
|
79.85
|
10.98
|
Note:
* Bifurcation of Imphal into (East and West) two was made after 1991. Note-Literacy rate is the percentage
of literates to population aged 7 years and above
Source: Kumar, et al. (2011); RGCCR (2012)
6. Interfacing Education with
Conflict:
Literatures and evidences show that there is a negative effect of
violent conflict on the human capital of individuals particularly among the
children and women, due to their vulnerability (Patricia, 2010). Violent
conflict, that is destructive, may affect considerably the level and
distribution of returns to education. It results in deaths, injuries,
disability and psychological trauma to a physical body; and have an adverse
effect to economic and social well being apart from political stability.
In the case of Manipur, it clearly shows that different forms of
conflict affect educational environment in the last two to three decades. In an
estimation, made by the authors with inputs from the Ministry of Human
Resources, the annual growth rate of elementary school enrolment in Manipur has
gone down significant from 1981-82 to 2010-11. For instances, in Manipur, the
elementary school enrolment was growing at 3.3 percent annually during 1981-82
to 1991-92. However, the growth has declined at the tune of 1.6 percent during 1991-92
to 2001-02, and further it went down to 0.03 percent during 2001-02 to 2010-11.
In the case of higher education, the growth rate was hardly 1.7 percent, while
it was 3.9 percent at the national level in the same period from 1996-97 to
2003-04. Probably, the students might have moved out of the State for study,
either due to the frequent conflicts in the State or lack of educational
infrastructures.
Table 6a:
Reasons for Studying Outside the State of Manipur
|
Main Reason
|
No. of Students
|
Percent
|
|
Law and Order Condition
|
30
|
57.7
|
|
Limited Educational Infrastructure
|
8
|
15.4
|
|
Status Sake
|
2
|
3.8
|
|
Low Quality of Education in Manipur
|
7
|
13.5
|
|
Others
|
5
|
9.6
|
|
Total
|
52
|
100
|
Source: Primary Survey (2012)
From the Table 6 we can realise that the uncertain law and order
condition is the most important factor that pushes the students to migrate
outside the State of Manipur. Though there are many factors that influence the
Manipuri people for coming out of the State for their studies, thirty out of
the fifty-two students (57.7 percent) interviewed revealed that the frequent
violence and blockades disrupted their studies in Manipur, and compelled them
to come out. When we look at the variables like, limited educational
infrastructure and low quality of teaching in the State, they
have least influence in deciding the students to come out of the State and
compose of 29 percent of the total factor considered for the Study (refer to
Table 6a). People are increasingly ascertaining to acquire greater education
for which the people from Manipur are not restricting to study only in their
state but also migrating towards other states in search of better quality
higher education. The state is persistently disturbed with violence, conflict,
strike or lockout throughout the academic year which hampers the academic
progress. As a result most of the affluent as well as those who want to pursue
sincere and quality education for future livelihood migrated to other
relatively develop and peaceful areas.
Out of the total fifty-two samples collected altogether fifteen
students each (28.8 percent each) are studying in the school and under graduate
level. There is some limited infrastructures in the higher and professional
courses. However, schooling and under graduate (General) level courses do not
have such constraints in the State. As a result, the students who aspire for
higher and professional courses have opted for their study in Bangalore as
shown in Table 6b. Therefore, the conflict and violence in Manipur as an
important reason for students’ migration outside the State is verified.
Table 6b: Magnitude of Courses Pursued by the Manipuri Students in
Bangalore
|
|
Course/Class
|
No. of Students
|
Percent
|
|
|
Schooling (Up to XII Standard)
|
15
|
28.8
|
|
|
UG(General- Arts, Science, Commerce)
|
15
|
28.8
|
|
|
UG (Tech- Mgt, Medical, Engineering)
|
10
|
19.2
|
|
|
PG (General-Arts, Science, Commerce)
|
7
|
13.5
|
|
|
PG (Tech- Mgt, Medical, Engineering)
|
5
|
9.6
|
|
|
Total
|
52
|
100.0
|
Source: Primary Survey (2012)
However, when we analyse the insurgency related conflicts and
fatalities that have come in the forefront of national media and discussion, it
does not appear to have a strict relationship with the literacy or enrolment
rates. There is a positive correlation between public
expenditure on education, enrolment rate and literacy rate in the State.
However, the correlations between insurgency related fatalities and other educational
related variables (like public expenditure on education, enrolment rate and literacy
rate) is found to be insignificant (refer to Annexure 1). If it is so, what
type of conflict affects educational environment in the State?
As we have seen in the Table 1,
approximately 41, 500 people have been displaced by ethnic conflict in the
1990s. Besides, in 1997, in the Kuki-Paite clash, altogether 162 people were
killed, 93 got injured, 71 were kidnapped and 3521 houses were burnt. In the
major ethnic conflict that has changed demographic equation greatly in Manipur
was the Naga-Kuki conflict. It resulted to altogether 800 people were killed,
480 got injured and 5713 families had been displaced between 1992 and 1999 (Hussain
and Phanjoubam 2007).Moreover, Meitei revivalist
movement, especially the Meetei Erol Eyek Loinasillon Apunba
Lup (MEELAL) has created many conflict and violence in the valley
region of the State. The impact has been felt directly or indirectly in the
hill communities as well, and reacted in many forms especially by the Naga
community in the State. For instance, the movement
to replace Bengali script by Meitei-Mayek (Manipur script), is
felt as an autocratic rule of Meitei (dominant community) to the hill
communities in Manipur (Shimray, 2007).Whatsoever the reason, the major
victims are the women and children, and definitely educational development is
greatly affected in the State. On the other hand, the involvement of student
organisations in uprising, agitation and different forms of protest in the
State has been widely evident in the recent years. Moreover, putting student
organisations in the forefront by many civil societies in the State for their
different demands is also widely noticed in the last two to three decades. Consequently,
the educational environment is critically affected.
Table 8: Organisations involve in Blockades and
Frequencies
(April 2004 to January 2007)
|
Organization
|
Affected Area
|
Frequency
(No. of Days)
|
Economic Loss (in Crore)
|
|
ANSAM, KSO
|
National
Highways
|
243*
|
415.37
|
|
Sadar Hill
District Committee
|
National
Highways
|
||
|
Zeliangrong
Students’ Union,
|
National
Highways
|
||
|
ATSUM
|
National
Highways
|
||
|
ATSUM
|
National
Highways
|
||
|
ADC Demand
Committee
|
National
Highways
|
||
|
MEELAL
|
Imphal and
adjoining valley areas
|
110*
|
203.18
|
|
Jiri District
Demand Committee, MSF, AMSU, DESAM
|
Jiribum,
Imphal and adjoining valley areas
|
||
|
APUNBA LUP and
MAFYF
|
Jiribum,
Imphal and adjoining valley areas
|
||
|
All
Organisations
|
Both Hill and
Valley
|
353
|
618.55
|
Note: * Sum up the days of
blockade; ANSAM= All Naga Students Association Manipur; KSO= Kuki Students
Organisation; ATSUM= All Tribal Students Union Manipur; ADC= Autonomous
district Council; MSF= Manipuri Students Federation; DESAM= Democratic
Students Alliance of Manipur; ADC=
Autonomous District Council; MAFYF= Manipur Forward Youth Front; AMSU= All Manipur Student Union; APUNBA
LUP= Apex Body of different Civil Organisation in Valley (Manipur)
Source: Compiled from The Morung Express 20/08/08 and
Singha (2008)
As a part of Naga integration movement, more than 2000 (two
thousand) Nagas students from Manipur were directed by the Naga Civil Organisations
to appear matriculation examination in Nagaland in 2007 (Shimray, 2007). In the
process, many of the students’ educational careers have been disturbed. Many of
the students were not willing to go to Nagaland for the said examination. This
is the only physically known figure; there were many students, especially the
school goers who are living in a great fear and felt insecure though no
incidence of attacking to student community was made by any of the organisation
at that time. Though, the exact figure is not estimated, the numbers of
students affected by ethnic violence have been identified as major impact of
violence on education in Manipur. It is also seen from the Table 8 that the
number of days involved in the agitation and blockades by the students’
organisation is more than the other civil organisations involved. It has also
resulted to huge economic losses in the State.
7. Some
Measures for Conflict Transformation:
Finding stability and peace is
certainly the greatest collective challenge that mankind has ever faced. In
many cases, the energy stemming from conflict can be directed towards achieving
positive change. People need to be taught of alternatives in resolving
conflict, that violence is not a necessary means to achieve their goals. Of the
whole education, the primary education is to be given more emphasis. In the research findings of Shah (2006)
reveal that the working of whole education system gets crippled when one level,
especially elementary education which is the basis/foundation of the whole
system, is kept weak. The cycle of low access, equity and quality starts from here
affecting in turn the other two higher levels and vice a versa. The secondary
education cannot be strengthened without strengthening the primary education
from where the students enter the secondary education system (Gill et al. 2005; Mukherjee
2005).
The harmony and stability of the
educational system is disrupted due to conflict in a frequent interval. It de-motivates
students to pursue studies in the state which resulted to an increased in out
migration to other relatively peaceful areas for higher studies. Conflict has
boost to study and work outside the State among the varied communities with
competitive notion. Sinclair (2002) pointed that education helps children and
youngsters to live a normal life and to prepare them for adulthood in what will
hopefully be a more peaceful environment. Education can make a significant
contribution to avoiding violent conflicts. Improved quality and safer, protective learning environments,
individuals may have fewer grievances, and thus less motivation – as well as fewer
opportunities – to engage in armed conflict (Dupuy, 2008). It suggests that education can be used as a preventive measure to
control and avoid conflict.
Figure
1: Elements of Peace-Building and Its Four
Conflict Transforming Elements
Source: Dupuy
(2008)
As policy measures for
bringing peaceful educational environment and further development of the State,
Manipur should follow three principles given below:
1.
Government should be
very deterministic about the four conflict transforming elements of education namely
inclusive education, transferring attitude and behavior, developing trust among
the communities, and provide hope for future as provided in the Figure 1. State
should ensure the mechanism of inclusive education, developing trust among the
communities through appropriate modification of syllabi and by including
socio-cultural elements of the major communities, if not all. For which,
necessary security and political arrangement should be made.
2.
Student Organisations
should not involve too much in the social issues, if not education related
issues. They should always safeguard, promote and ensure delivery of quality
education and for conduct of regular classes. Civil organisations should also not
put the student organisations in the forefront for their different demands.
Students and education should be exempted from any kind of conflict, blockade
and restriction.
3.
Government should proportionately
invest in all levels of education with world class infrastructures to retain
out-migration to some extend for study. Besides, no compromise should be made
in making innovative teaching learning process in the elementary level. Promoting
education for the name sake of raising literacy rate should be avoided.
Education should establish a strong foundation for quality education which
includes ethics, employability and adaptability. English may envisage as a
medium of instruction at the elementary level and creative and innovative
student-centred learning model should be introduced. Also, teachers’ absenteeism
should be avoided.
8. Conclusion
Education can be a prerequisite
for peace building and preventive measure of conflict. The
content and the process of education should promote peace, social justice,
respect for human rights and the acceptance of responsibility. As expected, the literacy rate in Manipur has
increased considerably compared to national level in the past two decades.
Also, the performance of education level especially for the female in Manipur
is found to be relatively better than the national level. Conflict and ethnic
violence seemingly does not affect much on the performance of education of
Manipur, as people give more emphasis on education. It is probably due to the
increasing participation in the contest of education in Manipur which is
relatively conflict-prone and outside the state e.g. Bangalore that is
perceived as peaceful and conducive environment for education, specifically the
professional courses. Despite supposedly vagueness of data, insurgency related
fatalities do not have strong correlations with education related variables
like literacy rate and school enrolment. However, primary data reveals that the
prevailing law and order condition in Manipur caused to migration for
education.
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Annexure 1: Correlations between Insurgency
related Fatalities and Education
|
|
Pearson Correlation
|
Public
Expenditure on Education
|
Projected
Literacy
Rate
|
Projected
Population
|
Insurgency
Related
Fatalities
|
Projected
School
Enrolment
|
|
Public Expenditure on Education
|
Pearson Correlation
|
1
|
|
|
|
|
| Sig. (2-tailed) |
.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| N |
21
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Projected Literacy
Rate
|
Pearson Correlation
|
.959(**)
|
1
|
|
|
|
| Sig. (2-tailed) |
.000
|
.
|
|
|
|
|
| N |
21
|
21
|
|
|
|
|
|
Projected Population
|
Pearson Correlation
|
.941(**)
|
.992(**)
|
1
|
|
|
| Sig. (2-tailed) |
.000
|
.000
|
.
|
|
|
|
| N |
21
|
21
|
21
|
|
|
|
|
Insurgency
Related
Fatalities
|
Pearson Correlation
|
.138
|
.151
|
.144
|
1
|
|
| Sig. (2-tailed) |
.552
|
.513
|
.532
|
.
|
|
|
| N |
21
|
21
|
21
|
21
|
|
|
|
Projected
School Enrolment
|
Pearson Correlation
|
.950(**)
|
.981(**)
|
.990(**)
|
.155
|
1
|
| Sig. (2-tailed) |
.000
|
.000
|
.000
|
.503
|
.
|
|
| N |
21
|
21
|
21
|
21
|
21
|
** Correlation is significant at the 0.01
level (2-tailed).
Source: Estimated from RGCCR (2006),
(2012); SATP (2012); Indiastat.com
[1] The eight states of
North Eastern Region of India are: Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram,
Meghalaya, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.
[2] This portion is heavily excerpted from Kumar, Anand; Kamei
Aphun; Khuraijam Bijoykumar Singh and Homen Thangjam (2011)
**********************************
For citation: Marchang Reimeingam, Komol Singha and Saju Mathew, “Educational Development in Manipur: Interface with Conflict”, National Seminar on The Impact of Violence on Women and Children in Conflict Areas in India with Particular Reference to Northeast, Organized by St. Joseph’s College Nagaland and TISS Guwahati, St. Joseph’s College Nagaland, 21-22 September 2012, (pp. 1-19).
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