Manipur: Parents rush to admit their wards in government schools. But why?

Northeast Live visited the school to find out how it has become one of the most sought after government high schools in the last few years.

Often parents run after private schools for admission of their children. Parents prefer private schools over public schools. This is true of entire India. But things in Manipur have changed. Parents are running after government schools to get their children admitted. Here is why.

Thanks to the government’s ‘School Fagathansi Mission’ and the dedication of the teaching and non-teaching staff, parents have swarmed the Wangkhei High School in Manipur’s Imphal East district seeking admission of their wards in the school.

The school recorded a comparatively high enrolment of students in the last 5 years. From just 395 students in 2019, the number of students admitted in the school for the current academic session has now crossed 1,000.

In 2020, there were 467 students, in 2021 and 2022 the number jumped to 836 and 975 respectively with amalgamation of another junior high school. Before even being selected under the School Fagathansi Mission, the school has gradually evolved into a role model.

Northeast Live visited the school to find out how it has become one of the most sought after government high schools in the last few years.

Headmistress Ranjita Rajkumari speaking on this said that the school has been able to produce good results due to the untiring efforts of the teachers as well as the non-teaching staff.

She said,”I will give the full credit to my teachers as well as the non-teaching staff, because we all work together in order to produce good results, so all of them are co-operative and all of them are very supportive. I amy very happy for being able to work with them. It is because of their hardwork, our school is able to produce good results in the matric exams.”

While telling about the success story, the Headmistress of Wangkhei High School also mentioned about the dedication level of the teachers, who even skip their winter vacations for taking care of the students facing exams.

Ranjitha Rajkumari said,”We, all of us have worked so hard that, our teachers have never enjoyed their winter vacations. During our winter vacations we conduct remdial coaching classes for HSLC appearing students. In order to make them free to write their exams on their own, because of that we have been producing good results in the HSLC exam.”

Meanwhile, it’s already mid-April, yet the admission is still going on at the Wangkhei High School.

“Lot of developmental works have been taken up under the School Fagathansi Mission and the government has provided lot of facilities like internet connections, rain water harvesting and solar panels have been installed. Many infrastructure items have been inducted in our school. Because of this, the parents are eager to send their wards to our school.”

Rajkumari also emphasized that the school focuses on new ways of learning for making the entire process, a convenient one, for the students. She added,”We use latest teaching methods, we use innovative ways of teaching for the students to make them learn, to understand the topic. I can’t comment about others, but for our school I can say that our teachers have worked very hard inorder to produce good students as they are going to be the future pillars of our society.”

Bachaspatimayum Dhaneshwari, an arts graduate teacher posted at the school sharing her experience said,”Earlier, the govt schools due to lack of infrastructure, due to lack of teachers-students coordination could not perform smoothly. But in Wangkhei School the teaching staff is very supportive and cooperative and there is a monitoring team, which help in the smooth functioning of the adminstration. I would like to mention that the role of the Headmistress or the Headmaster is very important when it comes to school administration, because it is under her guidance and under her supervision that we are able to uplift the performance of the students and we are able to increase the enrolement of students to such an extent.”

A parent who had come to the school seeking admission for her younger son spoke to Northeast Live and informed as to why she decided to go for the Wangkhei High School.

She said,”Earlier, my son studied in a private school. We are waiting to admit him to Wangkhei High School. As for his elder brother, I let him study at a private school and don’t want to switch at this time since he’s already in class 9. We chose Wangkhei High School because we heard a lot about how the teachers are very supportive and dedicated. If all the government school teachers are good, I believe many will run after government schools only.”

Another interesting aspect is that when it comes to Wangkhei High School, it is probably the only government school with school van service. This points to the fact that students living a little far from the school have also been admitted to the school.

This is one among the many government schools of Manipur who is changing peoples pre-conceived notions about government schools.

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