Editor,
It was good to see the open-minded reaction of the Education Minister of Meghalaya to the dismal ranking of school education in the state (Shillong Times, June 10, 2021). Hats off to Mr Lakhmen Rymbui for acknowledging that this report, “will help us analyse where we need improvement”. Recognition of a problem is the first step towards solving it.
The quotes attributed to the minister and his knowledge of pertinent data demonstrates that he is gearing up to engage with the many deficiencies in Meghalaya’s school system. He also provided several examples of specific measures that would be taken in the current year itself. Even the Chief Minister has added his promises of more investment for better infrastructure. This is a hopeful sign.
Unfortunately, the MP, Mr Vincent Pala has rejected the report of the Ministry of Education. He stands on shaky ground. The Ministry of Education report is well-corroborated by the NITI Aayog report of state rankings on the Sustainability Development Goals and the Annual Survey of Education (ASER) conducted by the respected NGO, Pratham Foundation. ASER collects data independently relying on local private partners to collect credible data. For several years, Martin Luther Christian University has been an ASER partner in Meghalaya.
To accuse the BJP of vendetta against Christian education is completely off target. The malaise in Meghalaya’s school education has been a chronic problem, long before the BJP came to power. Successive Congress governments did little to adequately address the abysmal state of school education in the state. No doubt the church schools are of good quality, but this report is not about that.
The Shillong Times of June 9, 2021 carried a report of 26 non-functional lower primary schools in one district alone. Such glaring examples stare us in the face. Mr Pala’s mindset of defensive denial will only serve to feed conspiracy theories and contribute to sweeping the problem under the carpet.
Yours etc.,
Glenn Kharkongor,
Via email
A dilettante view of Education
Editor,
The statements made recently by Shillong LS Member Vincent Pala in response to the Performance Grading Index (PGI) report on education are shocking. Mr Pala dismissed the last-placed ranking of Meghalaya as baseless, labelling it as a Central conspiracy to “demean the popularity of Christianity” in the state. He seemed to indicate that the ranking is the result of a vendetta against our state, rather than being based on facts and statistics. His claims are nonsensical and hard to believe, since he offers only personal anecdotes and blank rhetoric in his argument against the detailed report which was produced through actual research, but the arguments he goes on to present after these claims are even more appalling.
Mr Pala claims that 30-40% of the state’s schools are govt-run, and goes on to say that the data for the report probably considered only these schools, hence the abysmal rank. This is nothing but an admission of the fact that Meghalaya’s public schools have seen a cratering of their quality of education over time. However, Mr Pala seems to have no problems if, as he says, nearly half of our students are getting the very worst education in the nation. The fact that a long term LS representative of our state is more concerned with floating absurd conspiracy theories than with remedying this reality is extremely depressing. In my opinion, Mr Pala should spend some time actually visiting the many rural and even urban schools in Meghalaya and observe for himself the abysmal conditions many of them are operating in. Then, hopefully, he will devote more time and effort to improve this grim state of affairs than he does to make such absurd claims and allegations.
According to the last Census, Meghalaya ranked 24th out of 35 states and UTs in our country in literacy rate. We were placed 6th among 8 NE states alone. Hence, our performance in 2011 was already poor and in severe need of a course-correction. A decade on, the state of education has worsened considerably, and unfortunately, us being the worst-performing state is not some unbelievable hoax, but fully feasible and realistic. It is high time we develop the sense and wisdom to admit these unflattering facts and start working in earnest to fix our schools and give our students the education they deserve. However, if our politicians and leaders continue to reside in a conspiracy-filled bubble instead of doing their duties, the future for education in Meghalaya seems dark.
Yours sincerely,
N.K. Kehar
Shillong-3
Plight of education in Meghalaya
Editor
The performance of Meghalaya as per Performance Grading Index (PGI report card) 2019-2020 released by Union Education Minister is dismal, with Meghalaya ranked at 36th and with just 649 scores out of 1000. Meghalaya, once known as the educational hub especially for the students from North Eastern States and for which we Meghalayans take pride in, has now slid down to the bottom. We cannot turn a blind eye to the recently released PGI report card by assuming that it is a ploy of the Central Government to defame the education sector of our state. Instead, we should make the right moves for improving the scores in the following years. We cannot ignore the PGI report card because the score is derived by using database of 70 parameters such as equity, access, governance processes, infrastructure and facilities, learning outcomes etc that are mostly self- reported by the States and vetted by the Centre, with National Achievement Survey data also being incorporated.
Meghalaya’s Education Minister says the PGI report is an eye-opener, and claims that for the last three consecutive years our scores have improved. How? The statement of our MP is even more bizarre. He says only 30-40 percent of educational institutions are run by the government and the remaining by Christian Missionaries which undoubtedly provide the best education in the State with proper infrastructure, facilities, access and best resource persons. So the question arises as to why the government institutions which account for to 30-40% of educational institutions in Meghalaya cannot meet the standards and parameters laid down by PGI.
Development in the education sector of our State will be achieved if and only if the children from all the villages and districts get equal opportunities and access to education. The recent Covid19 pandemic which had forced us to opt for online teaching and learning clearly depicts a scenario where many children are left behind due to unavailability of network, electricity problems, no access to smartphones and many other reasons. Though our government had taken up the initiative to broadcast the lessons for students through Doordarshan last year, the success of that initiative has not been measured so far.
The infrastructure of many government schools in our State has improved courtesy the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Funds but there are many schools which cannot meet the criteria laid down by the ADB and so are unable to function. This requires immediate attention. The government should identify such schools across the state provide them financial assistance to improve their school infrastructure. Teaching professionals are the most important resource in education hence their recruitment must be based purely on merit. Medicine and Education are the two fields where there should be no compromise in quality. Failure in these two sectors takes a huge toll. Hence our government must ponder on the PGI report card to improve the education sector of Meghalaya especially since the Chief Minister had claimed that Meghalaya is the first State to implement the National Education Policy -2020.
Yours etc.,
Anil Singh Roka
Shillong-2
Meghalaya’s poor socio-economic grading
Editor,
A FB friend of mine reposted a former IAS officer’s post. I liked the post and ended up visiting his FB page. I found a post of his where he said that 20 African countries are ahead of India in per capita income. I have utmost respect for the said former IAS officer and I’m not trying to pick holes in his argument but I have to say it: What he said is technically not economically correct. When comparing the economic well-being of different countries, the rule of thumb in economic thought is not to use nominal per capita income but rather to use per capita income in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms. If we use per capita income in PPP terms, then only 12 African countries are ahead of India. I’m not trying to advance a counter argument that everything is hunky-dory when it comes to the state of the Indian economy.
Yes, the Indian economy is in the doldrums but as a State we need to focus on the growth and performance of the economy of our own state. The fate of the people and youth of Meghalaya is in the hands of the State leaders, and this leads me to the second point I want to make. With regards to the report that came out in your paper (ST June 10, 2021) about Meghalaya being the worst performer in education primarily because of poor infrastructure and facilities, to be completely honest, it doesn’t matter whether you’re at the bottom or the top. What is more important is employment and employability. Right now the youth unemployment in the country is hovering around the 30 percent mark and the highest unemployment rates is among the highly educated. At the end of the day, it all comes down to gainful employment. So when it comes to creating gainful employment for our own youths, I still think the onus falls more on the State government rather than on the Central Government. Like I said earlier, our destiny is in our own hands.
Yours etc.,
Gary Marbaniang,
Via email