SHILLONG: The Church has opposed Government taking over (provincialisation) educational institutions run by Christian missionaries.
Replying to a motion moved by Jemino Mawthoh on the provincialisation of the services of the teachers in all Government aided schools in Meghalaya, Deputy Chief Minister-in-charge Education, Prof RC Laloo on Tuesday said that at present Government has decided to provincialise only deficit secondary and higher Secondary schools run by non-religious organisations such as communities and village durbars.
Prof Laloo said that there was a meeting held with the Church Leaders Coordination Committee on September 27 to discuss the matter and in the meeting, the representatives from the Catholic Mission expressed their views that provincialisation of schools cannot be accepted by the Mission as the school has to hand over all the assets and liabilities to Government.
“The representative from the KJP Synod also expressed the same view that the Mission is not willing to provincialise the schools and teachers under their management. They also expressed that provincialisation of schools run by religious organisations will lead to problems in operating their institutions”, Laloo added.
The Deputy Chief Minister further said that the Government has also held meeting with the teachers’ association JACATAM for discussion on various issues including provincialisation of schools and the service of teachers serving in Government aided schools. It was decided in the meetings that the issue needs further examination by studying the method and policy adopted by other States and whether it is possible or not to provincialise only the service of the teachers without taking over the whole schools, Laloo said .
“The issue at hand is complex and needs proper application of mind and due diligence. The department is aware of the challenges ahead and would be looking forward to adopt a policy that would keep the interests of the students upper most and ensure that the education system is conducive to growth of the student mentally, physically and spiritually,” Prof Laloo added.