Faculty of the college while interacting with the minister flagged the shortages of classroom, hostel, staff quarters and smart classroom
TFM Ukhrul Correspondent
Continuing the tour of hill districts of the state, union minister of state for minority affairs, John Barla visited Ukhrul District on Saturday. He visited the lone government college in the district, Pettigrew College and inspected the ongoing construction of the Working Women Hostel and Sadbhavna Mandap inside the premises of Pettigrew College.
When asked by this correspondent his view on the development of Pettigrew College, he stated, “I am sent here by PM Modi ji to check out the education scenario which is a priority for us. I have seen (Pettigrew) college and met the principal. Modi’s government wants to work, and therefore, I am here physically. The development in education department that should have taken place in the last 75 years did not happen, and I am here to hear the view of the people, to learn what can be done for the future of the college, for the women, for the people. I am here to see what facilities can be set up. I am taking back the information with me. There is a lot of work my ministry, the Minority Ministry, can do in this area. This is a tribal area, with 100% minority. I am a tribal leader, coming from a minority. I want to work for the tribal people, to help those who are at the lowest point, so that those living in remote areas can stand up tomorrow; so that the poor people can be doctors, be well educated through our education system and through the various schemes set up by the central and state government.
“CM Biren Singh is doing very good work. I have seen the ongoing construction of Mandap here, the residential school and many more. Besides these, there are many other plans. Our ministry has a 15 points programme and many other schemes that are yet to be implemented. People are not aware of these schemes. Until and unless people are aware of all these programmes, development cannot happen. Therefore, I am here at this remote place to check out the reality for myself. I have met the people, the principal and the students. I have already said what we can do. Not just our ministry but there are other ministries. There is an education department. We can do much more.”
Pettigrew College was established in 1965. It was run as a private college for 12 years and was finally taken over by the Government of Manipur in 1977. Even after 44 years, the lone government college of the district is without basic infrastructure.
On being asked about the lack of library and other infrastructure at Pettigrew College even after 44 years of existence, John Barla stated, “I came here only today. I am learning about this only today. Set up a proposal. I will look into it at the earliest. The whole team is working hard and so is Modi ji. We are not simply working from Delhi but from the ground. There was no development in the last 75 years before the coming of Modi’s government. The people are made to run here and there for getting education. Now, we will give our best so that we can give the highest level of education to our children.”
The faculty of Pettigrew College while interacting with the minister pour out their grievances. Dr. Sinalei Khayi stated that “we are short of classroom, we don’t have hostel, we don’t have staff quarters, then we don’t have smart classroom. For the last two years we have been taking class online, just imagine the plight of our teachers and students. Because of the lockdown many students who came from far flung areas have to vacate their rented house and go back home. The (state) education minister has promised to provide smartphones as we have pleaded for that also. As mentioned by the director of MOBC, many infrastructure programmes are going to be taken up, we want the ministry to speed up so that we have it on time.”
The Working Women Hostel is being constructed at Rs. 5.25 crores and the Sadbhavna Mandap at Rs. 2.19 crores. John Barla instructed the contractor to put up wall and ceiling fans and a stage at the Sadbhavna Mandap.
In the morning, the union MoS for minority affairs inspected the completed school building of Shangshak High School and ongoing construction of the upgradation of Residential School at Shangshak and 100 bedded hostel at Residential School, Shangshak.
The minister had a brief stopover for lunch and short interaction with the District Administration of Ukhrul District at Mini Secretariat Complex, Ukhrul. The team also visited Shirui Peak and departed for Imphal from there.