Categories of schools in the state can leave you scratching your head
By Biplab Kr Dey
TURA, Nov 6: Do you know how many different types of schools the state of Meghalaya has? The answer is a mind boggling seven.
The situation is unique in not only the entire country but possibly the entire world.
Here is a list of the types of schools in Meghalaya…
Firstly, there are government lower primary, upper primary, secondary and higher secondary schools. Teachers in these schools are paid their salaries from the state exchequer and enjoy all benefits including pensions and health reimbursement among others. They are the most privileged of the group and are recruited through the Meghalaya Public Service Commission.
The second category is deficit schools. Here teachers are fully paid by the government with benefits included other than pension. Their salary is at par with those of government schools but do not have the provision of medical reimbursement. The recruitment to these schools takes place through the district education offices.
The third is a deficit pattern where the salary of the teachers remains the same sans the benefits, including house rent allowances, pensions or medical reimbursement. As per sources, there are only three such types of schools currently in Garo Hills, one in Jengjal another in Purakhasia (both in West Garo Hills) and the third in Baksalpara in North Garo Hills (NGH).
The fourth types of such institutions are schools receiving ad-hoc grants. These schools are provided grants per teacher on a monthly basis to at least four teachers for each school. Earlier, the amount of sanction per teacher was Rs 18,000 per month but it has now been raised to Rs 29,000 following protests.
Next up is the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan Schools (SSA) which primarily caters to the lower primary and middle school for children. The recruitment for these schools is done through the SSA education society in the state with the state needing to bear 10% of the entire salary. The rest is paid for by the Central government on a quarterly basis. There is, however, a 4th teacher in such schools in the state – a grand total of over 1500 of who fall under these categories.
Another pattern of schools that receive grants in the state are private schools with ad hoc grants for Hindi and Science subject teachers. Some well-known private schools fall under this category. These schools receive Rs 18,000 (earlier Rs 12,000) for Hindi teachers and Rs 31,000 (earlier Rs 22,000) per Science teacher. These only fall under the secondary section schools in the state.
Lastly come private schools in the state where the management is in private hands.
As was observed by a senior official of the Education department, the problem of categories of schools is historical and currently has become a huge burden to the state and its finances, something that the government has found extremely difficult to manage.
The official, on the condition of anonymity, took the example of the coming of SSA Schools in the state and how time or the lack of it, made the situation worse for those trying to better education.
“Other states were able to integrate LP schools in their respective areas with the new SSA schools ensuring nothing was disturbed. This led to a lot of stability in the process. However in our state, the problem of land availability as well as the lack of time to implement the scheme led to SSA schools coming up in the compound of government LP and UP schools. This directly impacted enrolment in government LP and UP Schools,” he observed.
SSA Mission in the state came in the year 2008-2009. The schools had new buildings, free books, uniforms and a robust recruitment process which led to many leaving their respective LP and UP schools to enrol into SSA schools.
With average populations in small villages numbering just in 100s, the presence of 2-3 such schools in the same village impacted the situation badly. With time, many such government schools fell by the wayside. However the number of teaching posts remained the same.
SSA schools in the state face another major conundrum – the presence of the 4th teachers. The post was created by the state with the cost to be borne by the state itself. However 4th teachers would not be paid the same amount as regular SSA teachers, despite doing the same amount of work. The entire scenario goes completely against the police of equal pay for equal work as enshrined in the Constitution.
“There are some schools that have four teachers for just 10-20 children while there are some that have 200 students with just one teacher. The transfer of teachers was a huge task as most did not want to take the transfer due to the proximity to their homes. The situation, even today, remains unresolved. These problems mostly relate to the elementary section of education in the state,” added another Education official.
According to sources, there are at least 14,000 schools (both private and government) in Meghalaya. In other similar sized states, including Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland, the number of schools hardly exceeds 5,000.
Earlier in the state, many ghost schools with ghost teachers were also found to be present.
What a ghost school means is that the school and its teachers only existed on paper. The money, which was earlier paid in cash, was gulped down by some unscrupulous people who created such schools only to cheat the government.
What is interesting is that despite the government realizing the presence of such schools, no stringent action was ever taken against them. These ghost schools went out of existence as soon as payments became account specific and the Education department demanded accountability.
“This has always been the problem in our state. Stringent action is never taken as most of these crooks either cozy up with politicians or high ranking officials. In other states, implementation of law in these cases would have been very different,” felt social activist Maxbirth Momin.
Another issue raised by Momin was the presence of ‘proxy’ teachers, mostly in remote parts of the state, though there are many even in places where access is easy.
“Many teachers have placed proxy teachers in their places, mostly in the same village where they are supposed to teach. They pay these proxies a part of their salaries and sit at home doing nothing. They take advantage of the fact that inspection to these schools is rare due to logistical problems. These need to be identified by the villagers and reported. Such people are criminals in my book,” felt Maxbirth.
Another teacher observed the differences in workloads of teachers in government schools and those of a private nature.
“In private schools, teachers are pushed and need to take at least 30 classes per week, sometimes even 40. However, if you observe, teachers in government schools or even those funded by the government hardly take 14-18 classes every week. While private school teachers struggle to make a living, government ones are better off,” said a teacher from Tura on condition of anonymity.
What is observable is the fact that a resolution of the education conundrum is far from sight.
“Creating such divisions in the pattern of schools has been a historical blunder and cannot be undone overnight. This requires policy makers to take a serious look and take strong decisions despite the repercussions it may have. Schools need to be amalgamated, especially in the elementary sections and excesses removed, otherwise the scenario of poor education is unlikely to change in the near future,” felt a teacher from Mendipathar.
The question now seems to be one of political will as well as an emotional one.
“The paramount factor will definitely have to be political will or the situation is unlikely to change. Subsequent governments have washed their hands of acting to improve the head scratching patterns of schools and this has impacted education in all parts of the state. The impact feels greater in Garo Hills and neglecting it will leave children completely helpless in many places,” Resubelpara-based social activist Wilness Marak observed.