AMPATI: “Hopeless unproductive students become militants and the media puts the blame on the Chief Minister alone for rise in militancy, when we all are responsible for the sorry state of affairs!” Chief Minister Mukul Sangma stated on Thursday.
“The present situation in the State is the outcome of wrong planning in the past and if we had gone wrong in the past then we all need to pull up our socks to strive and ensure that the future is better,” the Chief Minister said, while addressing the gathering after inaugurating the Science stream and two new buildings of Ampati Government Higher Secondary School here on Thursday.
Incidentally, the School also celebrated 25 years of its provincialization on the same day.
Expressing dismay over the education scenario in the region at large and the poor results of the students in particular, the Chief Minister reprimanded the government school teachers for not being able to produce good results, while their counterparts in private schools who are paid less salary are doing much better.
The Chief Minister, who is himself a product of the school, said that many young boys and girls in remote areas were not being able to fulfill their dreams of taking up Science due to constraints of not having enough institutes providing the Science stream.
Therefore, the government had embarked upon a very ambitious plan to set up higher secondary schools offering Science section in five locations in the State, including Ampati, which is being realized today, he said.
Informing the gathering about a series of interventions by his government in respect of education, Sangma said that the State has received nearly Rs.800 crore from funding agencies for human development programmes, including the Asian Development Bank and Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction.
Saying that most of the students in these rural areas are “first generation students” he pointed out that the government’s endeavour was not only to improve the education scenario but also provide support system to these students through various coaching schemes, adding that such kind of interventions are not available anywhere else in the country.
In order to promote basic science among the rural students, the Chief Minister also announced special scholarships to those students who take up basic Science for graduation and post-graduation level.
Minister for Sports & Youth Affairs, Zenith Sangma, Parliamentary Secretary in charge Education, etc., W.D. Sangma, both former students of the school, Deputy Commissioner Ram Singh, Director, School Education & Literacy, A.Ch. Marak and District School Education Officer & Principal in charge of Ampati Govt. Higher Sec. School, S.N. Sangma, were among others who spoke on the occasion.
It may be mentioned that the school was established in 1959 and was provincialized in 1988. Its higher secondary section was opened in 2005 and the Science section was opened earlier this year with 22 students.
