TURA, Feb 1: Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Monday informed that the Meghalaya government is looking to upscale and renovate 200 Lower Primary (LP) schools in the state in the current financial year and that an amount of Rs 40 lakh has been allocated for the renovation of each one.
Sangma made the announcement during the inauguration of two newly constructed school buildings of the Garobadha Secondary School and Rangsakona Higher Secondary School in South West Garo Hills.
The inauguration took place in the presence of Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui, MLAs Zenith Sangma and Ferlin Sangma in which the chief minister also informed that around 800 schools would be covered in a phase-wise manner in the next three years.
The two new buildings were funded by Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Supporting Human Capital Development in Meghalaya at an amount of Rs 1.85 crore for Rangsakona School, while Rs 3.09 crore for Garobadha School. The state-of-the-art schools are part of USD 100 million (Rs 650 crore) projects for the state, wherein 117 new school buildings have been created in the 11 districts.
Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister thanked the Education department and the ADB for taking up the ‘wonderful’ project in the state.
Highlighting the importance of education, Sangma said that without it there cannot be prosperity in any state or country, while adding that education is the most important pillar for any economy, country or society. He said that the government has taken education as a priority to ensure that the youths get adequate facilities.
Lamenting the lack of poor educational infrastructure facilities in the state, the chief minister lauded the effort of the education minister and the department for conceptualising a project to upscale educational infrastructure in the state.
Informing that more than 2,000 government Lower Primary schools in the state require urgent attention, he said, “Due to the financial crisis over the years, the LP schools were never renovated or extended. However, our government has decided to accord required attention to such schools so that we can create an enabling environment for the children”.
He also informed the gathering that an amount of Rs 12 crore each has been sanctioned for construction of new buildings for Williamnagar Government College and Captain Williamson Sangma Memorial College in Baghmara.
The chief minister also urged parents to pay attention towards the interest of their children stating that teachers, parents and students need to work together to reverse the education scenario in the state.
Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui pointed out at the poor pass percentage in South West Garo Hills, informing that out of 100 students, 74 students fail.
“The question is why. We have formed a committee to study the reason for poor pass percentage and have diagnosed the matter. We are currently devising a strategy to fix the problem. The problems cannot be fixed only by the government, we have to work together to overcome this issue and improve the education in this part of the state,” he said.