IMPHAL, March 6: A students’ body in Manipur on Tuesday welcomed the passing of “The Manipur Prevention of Malpractices in High School Leaving Certificate (HSLC) and Higher Secondary Education (HSE) Bill 2024” by the state Assembly.
The Manipur Prevention of Malpractices in High School Leaving Certificate (HSLC) and Higher Secondary Education (HSE) Bill 2024 was passed by the Manipur Legislative Assembly on Monday.
It is a legislative measure that aims at curbing malpractices in the examination processes for high school and higher secondary education in the state.
This bill encompasses a range of provisions to ensure integrity and fairness of conducting the examinations, including measures to prevent cheating, fraud, and other forms of misconduct during HSLC and HSE examinations.
The bill included stricter enforcement of examination rules and regulations, enhanced monitoring and surveillance during examination periods, penalties for individuals found guilty of malpractice, and measures to promote transparency and accountability in the examination process.
While welcoming the passing of the bill, Democratic Students’ Alliance of Manipur (DESAM) hoped that the bill would surely get the assent of the Governor to convert it into Act.
The DESAM, in a statement, said that as a students’ body, it has been pressing the state government, chief minister, education minister and higher authorities of the pertinent department to enforce a law which can effectively check malpractices by the students in exams.
As a result of it, a cabinet meeting of the incumbent government, on December 4, 2023, decided to enforce a law to deal with the malpractices in the exams.
The long pending demand was translated into action by passing the bill by the house of the state Assembly on Monday (March 4), it said.
The DESAM expressed its gratitude to the members of the house for supporting the bill. It also thanked state education minister Thounaojam Basantakumar for his effort to materialize the demand.
The DESAM recalled and said that it had approached the Manipur Human Rights Commission (MHRC) in the form of a petition in 2020 to recommend the state government to enforce a law that will check malpractices in the exams effectively.
The MHRC took it up as a case and recommended the state government for making a legislation prohibiting unfair practices during X and XII examinations. For this, the DESAM lauded the then acting chairman, Khaidem Mani who sent the recommendation on March 11, 2021.
Following the recommendation, the DESAM has been pressing the state education minister, director of education and concerned authorities to consider the recommendation of the MHRC positively, it added.