Education Minister S.Rajen says, rationalisation of school and college teaching staff will be held ahead of new academic session; State government helpless about JNV entrance test

Manipur Education Minister Sorokhaibam Rajen today announced that rationalisation of teaching staff of High Schools, Higher Secondary schools and Colleges in Manipur will be carried out ahead of the new academic session 2021-22. Speaking exclusively to Impact news at the Minster’s office in Old Secretariat, S. Rajen also said that the state government has nearly completed monitoring on the number of seats in Higher Secondary Schools and Colleges across the state so that every students promoted in the recently declared class-10 examination conducted by BOSEM and Class-12 examination conducted by COHSEM will get admission to these educational institutions.

He further informed that there are 57 Government run Higher Secondary Schools and 139 Private Higher secondary schools in Manipur. He maintained that 7 more government schools will be upgraded to Higher Secondary level to accommodate around 54 thousand students. Minister S. Rajen also said that the government is planning to upgrade more schools to Higher Secondary if need arises. He added, there are 45 government and government aided colleges at present, and the process of converting 7 private colleges to aided colleges is over.

Regarding demand for cancellation of the entrance test scheduled on August 11 for admission to class 6 in Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, JNV across Manipur, Minister S. Rajen said,  the State government is helpless on the issue since the entrance exam will be held nation-wide.  He said that the state government had earlier requested the centre to postpone the entrance test in Manipur in view of the pandemic but the centre has not responded till date.

Corona induced lockdown for over a year in a bid to control the spread of Covid-19 pandemic outbreak has forced to shut commercial establishments including book stores in Manipur. Closure of Book stores is an immense plights for students. Some of the students and parents told Impact News they are finding it hard to find textbooks and the same is hindering their education. They have appealed to the government to re-open book stores across the State.

Covid norms take backseat at Johnstone Higher Secondary School in Imphal West District as students swarm to get class-12 mark sheets and provisional certificates

COVID-19 SOPs took backseat at Johnstone Higher Secondary School in Imphal West District today. Imphal West District has the highest COVID-19 positivity rate in Manipur. Relevant authorities allegedly failed to make sure compliance of COVID-19 protocols in the school when many students who have recently passed class 12 examinations swarmed to collect their mark sheets and provisional certificates.

Impact news team came across a rush of students in the school almost like that of devotees gathering at Hiyangthang Lairembi temple during normal times. Many students stood in long queue at the school gate without maintaining safe-distance. One of the students told Impact news that they followed COVID-19 related SOPs inside the school campus but as the number of students increased, school authorities drove them outside the campus and as they tried to get ahead of each another, COVID protocols took back seat.

When Impact News started interacting with the students, a team of City police arrived at the scene and ordered everyone present to follow COVID-SOPs. It maybe mentioned that issuance of Mark sheets and provisional Certificates for the recently declared class 12 examination 2021 conducted by Council of Higher Secondary Education Manipur, COHSEM began today.

Manipur reported 742 New Confirmed cases of COVID-19 out of 5 Thousand 55 samples tested in the last 24 hours. State added 742 more COVID-19 Cases, 1,047 recoveries and 14 Deaths. Covid Positivity rate on August 6th stands at 14.67 per cent and recovery rate at 90.28 per cent.

Joyous moment for Manipur and especially the residents of Kontha Ahallup Makha Leikai, birthplace of India's Hockey midfielder Shanglakpam Nilakanta upon Hockey India team winning Olympic bronze medal; Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren lovingly calls Sh. Nilakanta, “My Boy” and assures him a reward of Rs. 5 Lakh and a suitable job

Indian Men's Hockey team today defeated Germany 5-4 in the 3rd place match of the ongoing Tokyo Olympic Games 2020, thus securing a bronze medal. This ended 41 year-long wait for an olympic medal by hockey India. Last time, India bagged a bronze medal was in the Moscow Olympic Games 1980. In the ongoing Tokyo Olympic Games 2020, India now stands at 62nd place with 5 medals including 2 silver and 3 bronze medals. Midfielder Shanglakpam Nilakanta from Manipur played a big role in India's victory.

Hockey player Shanglakpam Nilakanta comes from a financially constraint family. Speaking to Impact News, his father Shanglakpam Inaocha said that he could not even afford to buy a hockey stick for his son in his early days. He added that Nilakanta, his 2nd child out of three, is a self-made man. Inaocha said, his son started playing Hockey since he was 9. He has great will power, patience and acknowledges their family’s condition right from his childhood days. Nilakanta’s father Inaocha expressed sadness that he could not provide more than two square meals a day to his son nor a balanced diet during his early training days. The Olympic medallist’s father added that he somehow managed to buy a second hand bicycle for his son so that he can ride till Khuman Lampak for his daily Hockey Practice. Later, Nilakanta landed a job in the Railways and started helping his family. The hockey player’s father urged every parents to support and encourage their children in whatever field they have passion.

Nilakanta’s happy and proud mother, Kunjarani told Impact News that she shed tears of joy when the team won the match today. Kunjarani also said, earlier she cried out upon hearing her son’s voice during the semi-final match between India and Belgium, in which India lost. She longs for her son to be back in Manipur and get a job here. Kunjarani called up her son and wished him success before today’s match. She also thanked the people of Manipur for their supports and prayers for Nilakanta and his team’s success.

Hockey India's victory is a proud and joyous moment for the nation including the residents of Kontha Ahallup Makha Leikai of Heingang Assembly Constituency in Imphal East District, the birthplace of Shanglakpam Nilakanta, who is one of the midfielders in the Hockey team. Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren who had won the last elections from Heingang A/C expressed happiness and congratulated Hockey Indian team and especially Shanglakpam Nilakanta. Speaking to Nilakanta online, CM N.Biren called Nilakanta, “my boy” and asked him about his desires. Responding to the Chief Minster, Nilakanta, who is currently serving as a Senior Ticket Collector in the Indian Railways expressed wish to work in Sports-related field. CM Biren told Nilakanta that he need not work as a Ticket Collector anymore. He assured him a reward of Rs. 75 lakh and a suitable job.

Congratulatory messages poured from political leaders, sports personalities and others for the Indian Men’s Hockey Team from across the Country. President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Sports Minister Anurag Thakur, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju and President of Manipur Hockey Basudev Singh congratulated the team. Youth Affairs & Sports Minister, Letpao Haokip and President of Manipur Olympic Association cum Heirok MLA Dr. Thokchom Radheshyam and many others also congratulated the team and Nilakanta.

Meghalaya and Manipur are now connected through the UDAN scheme direct air service. IndiGo has started operating flights on the Imphal-Shillong route cutting travel time significantly. From now onwards, people can easily fly between the two cities by opting for a flight of just 60 mins from Imphal to Shillong and 75 mins from Shillong to Imphal.

The first direct flight operations between the two states flagged off on Tuesday under the Regional Connectivity Scheme -- Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (RCS-UDAN), Government of India. Ministry of Civil Aviation announced the same on Wednesday. Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma has also posted about the same on his Facebook page. Shillong is the second city to be connected with Imphal under the UDAN scheme.

Aimed at enhancing regional connectivity through fiscal support and infrastructure development, the maiden flight under UDAN scheme was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Shimla for the national capital on April 27, 2017.