Education management in Meghalaya is in a deep mess, hence the relentless agitation by different categories of teachers. There is desperation as teachers stare at a bleak future, not assured of their salaries and post retirement benefits in a situation made worse by inflation that is riding an upward wave even while the economy is in stagflation mode. Employment or the lack of it is visible across the country especially after the two-year Covid period. In the case of education in Meghalaya, more specifically the employment of teachers, some drastic systemic reforms are called for. How were contractual teachers employed? What were the terms of their contracts? If the Government is the paymaster why is it running short on funds? This aspect needs to be clearly explained.
It is a fact that Education is a Department that successive governments in Meghalaya have failed to tackle decisively. When the running of Primary Schools was taken over by the Government from the District Councils in the 1980s, the paper work remained incomplete. It was only recently that their details were updated and by then many of the teachers had retired. The present Government has only inherited the problems of the past but that is no excuse for it not to address the matter head on. After all, among the things promised by the Conrad Sangma led MDA Government in 2018 was “Change.” Here was a foreign educated management graduate with all wherewithal required to manage public finances so why was the problem faced by teachers not given the priority it deserves? This is the first time that teachers have dared the government and even spent nights on the streets, despite the rains. It has been pointed out in these columns that having a Home Minister heading the Education Department is actually pulling him in two opposite directions. As Education Minister his sympathies might lie with the teachers but as Home Minister he feels he needed to tackle their agitation with an iron hand. He has lost on both counts. Teachers now see the Minister in charge of their affairs as enemy number one. They expected him to find solutions to their long-pending problems; not to be tamed by police action and tear gas. This has never happened to teachers in Meghalaya in the past. Tear gas is reserved for situations that have veered out of control and turned violent. The teachers were taking part in a peaceful protest.
Now even the United Democratic Party (UDP) – the Party to which the Education cum Home Minister belongs to is feeling the heat and asking that he be dropped from the cabinet. It is unprecedented that a political party would disown its own member. Clearly, Mr Lahkmen Rymbui is a victim of a double whammy even while the problem is that of Finance which is Chief Minister Conrad Sangma’s brief !
