By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Deputy Chief Minister in charge of Education Prof RC Laloo on Wednesday said that the government is considering the possibility of up-grading the Shillong Polytechnic into a full-fledged engineering institute.
Prof Laloo was replying to a cut-motion raised by Nongkrem legislator Ardent M Basaiawmoit on upgradation of technical institutions in Meghalaya to raise them to the level of engineering institutes and the plight of school teachers with reference to their salary and pensions.
While stating that the government will take up the matter, the Education Minister, however, informed the House that there are a number of constraints the department is facing as far as the upgradation of such institutes are concerned.
“The feasibility of the upgradation, which includes construction of buildings, additional classrooms besides others, is being examined by the department,” he said adding that hurdles like lack of adequate trained faculty, proper laboratory and library facilities etc. also needs to be addressed.
Prof Laloo said that despite the constraints, the government had on January 2013 inducted the polytechnics in Jowai and Tura as government run institutions.
“The government is also considering setting up of more polytechnics in others districts of West Khasi Hills, Ri-Bhoi and South Garo Hills and has also initiated steps for creation of polytechnic at Williamnagar for which land has already been provided by the GAD.”
Replying to the motion moved by Basaiawmoit regarding admission of more students, Prof Laloo replied that admitting students beyond the capacity of the institutes was not a good idea.
“With the creation of more polytechnics in the State, this problem should be addressed,” he said.
Basaiawmoit had pointed out that only 180 students are accommodated in all the streams from the 800 applicants who seek admission into the polytechnics.
Earlier, the Nongkrem legislator also questioned the effectiveness of the education department on the grounds that it did not have a separate directorate for technical education like others states.
He also raised the issue of safety and security of the students and hostellers in the Shillong Polytechnic since the institute premises is yet to be fully fenced.
Admitting the fact that there was no proper fencing around Shillong Polytechnic, Prof Laloo said that the same could not be done due to a slight problem where in one portion, the road passes through the institute.
Basaiawmoit also expressed concern over the disparities of quota allotted to the different states stating that if quota into civil and electrical engineering is not enhanced, it would badly affect the students looking to pursue civil and electrical engineering.
Pointing out that Meghalaya has been allotted only 100 seats, lesser when compared with the other north eastern states, Basaiawmoit lambasted the government for its failure to bargain for more seats from the Union Government.
Reacting to this, the Education Minister informed the House that the point raised by the member of the Opposition has been noted and will be taken up with the Centre.
On issues relating to salary and pensions of the teachers, Prof Laloo said that there are 15000 paid teachers under the payroll of the government and there were times when the government had to increase the dearness allowance (DA) twice a year.
“This is something the government had not anticipated since it had to pay the DA to quite a number of staff thereby creating shortfall of funds,” he said adding that this is one of the reasons behind the delay in disbursement of salary and also late submission of UCs by different school management authorities.
Taking a dig on the recruitment process, Basaiawmoit urged the government to do away with the present form of recruitment of teachers through DSC and MPSC since it provides an advantage for political masters to intervene in the process.
Replying to this, Prof Laloo said that fresh recruitment of teachers would be in line with the National Council of Teachers’ guidelines. Besides, applicants will have to go through the eligibility test and intensive training before being recruited.