Naga delegation meets Arjun Singh on NBSE affiliation

Kohima, Aug 29: The high-level Nagaland delegation led by Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio met Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh and apprised him of the state's decision on affiliation of private schools in the hill districts to Nagaland Board of Secondary Education (NBSE).

According to official sources here today the delegation led by Rio, included Home Minister Thenucho, School Education Minister Imkong Imchen, Rural Develoment Minister Noke Konyak, Transport Minister Imtilemba Sangtam and Deputy Chairman of State Planning Board Deo Nukhu met Mr Singh and had a fruitful discussion on the affiliation issue involving about 56,000 Naga students studying in 163 private schools in the hill districts of Manipur.

Mr Rio sought for immediate intervention to ensure that students are able to pursue their education in the language of their choice, without being subjected to linguistic or cultural assimilation.

Highlighting the plight of the hill students under the Board of Secondary Education of Manipur (BSEM), Rio in a letter to Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities, Ministry of Minorities Affairs, Suresh A Keswani, also urged the need to handle the issue with 'care and urgency'.

Alleging that the Manipur government and BSEM were trying to 'impose their dominant culture and language by prescribing school text books that contain distorted historical accounts of the Nagas and their homeland in Manipur, as well as imposing of Meitei (Manipuri) language and script (Meitei Mayek) on the Naga tribal students', Rio said the imposition was a serious case of infringement of the rights of Naga linguistic minorities in Manipur.

The delegation also plans to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

The delegation met Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil and discussed the issue for about 30 minutes yesterday, sources said.

UNI