By Barnes Mawrie, SDB
Shillong city used to be called the Scotland of the East because of its natural beauty and similarity with the landscapes of Scotland. Years ago the city was definitely worthy of that name. Even as a small boy I still remember how the Golf Links used to be immaculately clean and the area was bigger than it is now. Today it has lost much of its span due to illegal encroachment. Golf Links during the British times, was known to be the biggest natural golf course in the world. Today it can no longer claim that title. When it comes to cleanliness and appearance, this iconic place has seen a great degeneration.
Today with the net enclosure put all around it, there is a little improvement in cleanliness. Another iconic place in the city which has disappeared altogether, was the renowned horse race course in the so-called Polo Grounds. My parents told me that the British used to hold horse races and polo games frequently which attracted a lot of spectators. In fact, the name Polo Grounds is derived from there. Another remnant of that are the long sheds occupied by the MES today in the locality of Ghoraline. These sheds used to be stables for the horses and so Ghoraline derived its name from this. Imagine if these games, Polo and horse race, were still preserved today, Polo Grounds would have retained its pristine glory and purpose. Unfortunately, in Meghalaya we are fond of wiping out history and anything historical. With the horse race and polo game, Shillong would have attracted more tourists from different parts of the world. Therefore I would consider the degeneration of the Golf Links and the disappearance of the above mentioned games in Polo Grounds as a great loss to the state and to the people of Shillong in particular.
Shillong used to be known also as the “Educational Mecca of Northeast India.” This title was true when we consider that Shillong has many of the most renowned educational institutions in the region. We have distinguished colleges like St. Anthony’s College, St. Edmund’s College, St. Mary’s College, Shillong College, Lady Keane’s College to name a few. We have well known schools like St. Edmund’s School, St. Anthony’s School, St. Mary’s School, Loreto School, St. Margaret’s School, Pine Mount and many others. These institutions have produced eminent citizens who are renowned nationally and internationally. We have St. Anthony’s and St. Edmund’s Colleges which have produced eminent politicians like P. A. Sangma, E. K. Mawlong, Donkupar Roy, Safar Satyavan, P. R. Kyndiah, Pradyot Bikram Manikya, academicians like Dr. David Syiemlieh, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Itanagar and former Chairman of UPSC, Dr. Hamlet Bareh, artists like Victor Banerjee of the Passage to India fame, Joi Barua a well known musician and singer, civil servants like J. M. Lyngdoh the tough Chief Election Commissioner of India, H. T. Sangliana the famous police commissioner of Bangalore who was also elected to the Lok Sabha for one term and a well-known Kargil Martyr of 1999, Captain Clifford Nongrum who was posthumously awarded the Maha Vir Chakra. It is a known fact that thousands of youth from all over Northeast India would dream of pursuing their studies in Shillong. It is true that this is still a fact but what we witness is a gradual decline. Today, Guwahati is emerging as an educational hub of the region. The number of private high standard schools, professional colleges and universities that have cropped up in Guwahati is something phenomenal and more students from Northeastern states are flocking to that city. Guwahati can boast of diverse types of educational institutions from engineering, medical to arts and culture etc. With the fast improvement of public infrastructure, the city of Guwahati is almost comparable to any metropolitan of the country. Our city of Shillong on the other hand has not seen much improvement in the area of educational infrastructure and other allied areas. Till date, we do not have even one state university, no state medical college, no state engineering college and let us not talk of other professional institutions which are altogether absent.
If the state is experiencing a dearth of doctors, it is precisely because we have no state medical colleges which can give preference to local youth. Of late the Assam Government has sanctioned 6 new medical colleges in the state besides the many existing ones. Can Shillong still boast of being the educational hub of the region? In my opinion, that is a thing of the past. Shillong has lost its privilege of retaining its name as the educational Mecca of Northeast India, thanks to the lack of vision and sense of mission of our leaders and governments of the past and present. What a shame that in the recent paper published by the Observer Research Foundation (2020-22), the Performance, Infrastructure, Equity (PIE) Index with regard to Primary and Secondary Education, Meghalaya ranked the lowest in the country. This is something to be lamented by every Meghalayan and we as Shillongites feel greatly betrayed by our governments which have damaged the reputation of our city by their lack of political will and decisiveness. Kudos to all private educational institutions especially those of the churches that still remain committed to the cause of education in our city. Had it not been for them, the condition of education in our city and state would have become deplorable.