A BRIEF INTROSPECTION OF OUR PRESENT EDUCATIONAL STATUS

The foundation of every state is the education of its youth.
- Diognoss

The end of education is not only the furnishing of the mind, it’s also about the intellectual discipline, a training of the powers so as to create a certain habit of the mind, a skill and temper that can be set to works on facts and ideas with equal readiness. One who has acquired this capacity, who has learned to apply one’s mind of facts and problems, will carry method and discipline into any occupation that he is called upon to discharge.

Ever since education was introduced under the pioneer initiative of the Welsh missionary, there has been a dramatic change in the educational graph of the Hmar community. Introduction of Christianity was a boon for the Hmar people. Herading the new era as the ray of hope for development-spiritually and physically, the Hmars welcomed the wind of change with open arms.


Thus with the passage of time, the Hmars experienced the fruitful result of education. Newly educated although few, emerged and became the harbingers and torch bearers among the ignorant lot to guide the rest toward the path of enlightenment. The wheels of progress moved slowly but with every extra mile it covered a new generation with better excellence evolved. As anticipated by our founding fathers, we have achieved tremendous development because of our tryst with education.

While still rejoicing by giving oodles of accolades to our hitherto achievement in education, there seems to be some ugly truth to be scrutinized which has been shedding our glory surreptitiously. Looking into the context of the present situation there arises the need of some corrective steps or measures to be taken to keep the altar of our education burning. In fact, when compared with our fellow communities, our educational status is abysmally low. Hardly any civil servants have we produced during the last ten years excepting a few, even not enough to be counted on fingers, a meagre numbers of engineers and doctors and professional students at IIMs/IITs.

To be more realistic, this continuity of education is also rampant among us either because of some possible reasons or during the irreconcilable differences with the education itself.

Myriads of reasons may be cited behind our departure from the threshold of sustainable success in education. To quote, lack of determination and will power among us seem to be the pertinent reason coupled with plethora of thoughtless parasitic enigmas, mushrooming in every nook and corner of our society who shamelessly avail the free fruits of parents’ hard labour without having any aim in life or career plan.

The external stimulus brought about by the advent of globalisation, modernisation and mass- media also seem to have an adverse effect on the young, docile and naïve minds of our youngsters by deviating their attention and concentration towards virtual and impracticable things. For instance, many students glue their minds and souls to some social networking sites like Facebook, Orkut, Twitter, etc, along with unnecessary mobile indulgence which unknowingly vaporised most of their valuable time and also distorted their mental balance and firmness. The growing mass media like internet and television also give a fillip to their already bedazzled and hypnotised minds which consequently led them to indulge in immoral and irrational practices and inturn escalates their distaste for studies. Many students seem to have regarded education as a secondary thing or a time-pass by giving precedence over to high-calibre lifestyles within the ambit of high-tech and ‘haute couture’. To sum up, we have lacked the commitment, determination and sacrifice of our education veterans.

By drawing a gloomy picture of modernity, here we don’t contemplate to give a cold shoulder to spectacular achievement of technology. Making the most of it is acknowledged and highly recommended but using it to such extend so as to turn a deaf ear to one’s basic duties and responsibilities may eventually lead to collateral damage.

Thus, the need of the hour is to wake up from our slumber of folly and bluntness, revamp and overhaul our mindset by imbibing the spirit of consistent hard work and perseverance, also rediscover the purpose of our lives and ignite with greater vigour the engine of our education which has been lulled for long. The time has come to introspect ourselves to find and remove the hurdles and temptations that lie on our path to education since the glory and development of our tribe depend on our progress in education. The day has finally dawned to proclaim ‘now or never’ before we harmonise ourselves with the symphony of destruction.