SHILLONG, Nov 9: With the purpose of providing counsel to the government on matters pertaining to schools and colleges, the Meghalaya State Education Commission was on Wednesday approved by the state cabinet and a four-member committee was also formed.
The four members include chairperson, secretary and two advisers.
The committee will advise the state government on matters relating to schools and colleges in terms of the systems in place, their institutional and salary structures, overall school and college management functioning and accountability.
It will produce a concrete solution and make strategic recommendations for ushering in reforms in the education sector in line with the National Education Policy and the state education policy. This will also include management of aided schools and their performance, concerning general function and activities.
Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said, “This is one of the points we have been talking about for a long time. We strongly feel we need to ensure that a full-fledged commission which works and looks into all aspects of education is there.”
Stating that the state government has done all that it could in the last four and a half years, he said the efforts put in have started showing some results.
Citing NITI Aayog’s Performance Grade Index (PGI), he said Meghalaya is ranked second in terms of improvement of infrastructural facilities.
“In fact, we are the highest improved state in the Northeast. In other areas also like equity, we are the highest improved state in the Northeast and the fifth highest improved state in India,” Sangma said.
He further said that in the overall five PGI indexes, Meghalaya is ranked the fifth highest improved state in the country and the second highest improved state in the Northeast.
“Though our efforts are showing some results, I think a more focused approach is required. In spite of things moving forward, we would like to see that the Meghalaya Education Commission is able to take things forward in a much more structured manner in the long run,” he added.
Regularisation for 3635 govt employees
The government has decided to regularise the services of 3,635 employees based on a Supreme Court ruling that individuals who were employed before December 31, 2007, on ad-hoc basis but against sanctioned post will be regularised.
Informing this after the cabinet meeting, the chief minister said, “Based on the Supreme Court ruling, which allows state government to take a one-time decision and decision was taken to regularise 3635 ad hoc employees who were working against sanctioned post”.
Based on the fact that these employees, albeit in an ad hoc system, were working against sanctioned posts, the government decided that the pension amount will also be given to them, he said.
The pension of those who have passed away will be given to their family, the CM said, adding that this is a one-time exemption and will not be applicable to other group of employees.
Literary awards
In keeping with the decision of the state government to promote indigenous languages, the state cabinet has decided to come out with state literary awards to authors — one for Khasi and Garo each.
According to the CM, the awards are being given away in a bid to promote the two languages so that they are included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
“We are starting with a cash award of Rs 1 lakh each,” Sangma said.
Every year, there will be a committee which will screen different nominations and propose a list of awardees to the government.
“This is another step towards ensuring that we give the necessary push and importance to our own languages and promote them,” he added.
Recruitment board for medical services
In order to clear the massive backlog of vacancies, the State Cabinet on Wednesday approved the creation of a separate recruitment board for medical services called the Meghalaya Services Medical Board.
Informing this, the chief minister said, “This is being done because there is a huge backlog of vacancies in terms of 176 vacancies for specialists and 366 for doctors”.
The CM pointed out that a problem has persisted due to the inability of the Meghalaya Public Service Commission to conduct interviews and other procedures in different departments since 2017.
The CM further said, “In the next two to three months, we will try to ensure that all the recruitment process for all these posts are completed through the Meghalaya Medical Recruitment board”.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet also approved the notification of the Meghalaya Epidemic Diseases Malaria Regulation 2022 to control the spread of the disease.
He said the the National Framework for Malaria Elimination (NFME) has mandated that regulation and notification should come out to have malaria as an epidemic disease.
Moreover, the state government will now guarantee Rs 4 crore in favour of National Handicap Finance Commission, a fund that gives loan to different physically challenged individuals.
