Education Miles Away
Realizing the Right to Education will be a large challenge in the Northeast.
In Manipur many children travel long distances to reach decent schools. Many do not attend the government schools due to a lack of proper infrastructure, teachers and supplies.
Implementing the Central government’s Right to Education Act in the Northeast will be a unique challenge for both the states and the Center. The act outlines specific guidelines for the proximity and infrastructure of every school. According to the act, every neighborhood must have a school within walking distance. These schools must comply with the exact infrastructure requirements designated in the bill. This includes such provisions as classroom structures, playgrounds, learning materials and libraries. The number of teachers, caliber of instruction and curriculum are to be nationally standardized for all primary and secondary schools.
In the Northeast, where the educational infrastructure in place is already shaky, many remain skeptical of the government’s ability to realize RTE.
In response to this, the central government has outlined special provisions for Northeastern states in the act. Where the majority of states will split the cost of RTE with the Center nearly down the middle, the Center will cover 90 percent of implementation costs in the Northeast. This heavy involvement will allow greater leverage in oversight.
Full text of the Act is available here.
Achungmei Kamei
I come from the Naga tribal community in Manipur. I feel that powerful people in the underworld and insurgent groups control what news is produced in my state – they dictate what is published and when, and frequently threaten the editors. I’ve always wanted to work with media so that I could have the opportunity to give my own account of what happens in my community and in Manipur.
With this greater goal, I did my degree in Mass Communication Studies in Bangalore. I stayed on to work for a few years there. Being out of Manipur for the first time was difficult and scary because of the way North-Easterners are treated by the rest of the country. Classmates and colleagues never believed I was Indian, insisting I must be Korean or Chinese or Nepalese. These feelings of not being Indian were familiar – I had grown up in an environment that was typified by rebellious movements against the central government. Nagas and Meiteis alike feel removed from and neglected by mainland India.
I returned to Manipur and now work part-time as a news correspondent for a national radio station. I joined the IndiaUnheard program because I feel this is a platform to combine what I’d studied with my deep-seated desire for independent media. Over the last six months I’ve produced stories on local economic blockades and separatist strikes.
Achungmei Kamei has produced
24 stories for us.
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