Editor,
The front page headline,‘State secondary-level dropout rate highest in India at 21.7 %,( ST June 12, 2023) has prompted me to respond with a twist! Surprisingly it did not shock me! But what shocks me is that your reporter continues to report the Education Advisor’s words like a stuck gramophone player! What is different, nay original, in what has been said over the years? Did the reporter feel the emotions of what was said? Couldn’t he have requested just a tiny brief about the ‘opportunities and avenues,’ he quotes that the Government has for school dropouts?
However, unless the hearts and minds of politicians, including political advisors, et al of the Government genuinely feel the tearful pain of failure of our school dropouts, the malaise will continue. No tangible progress will ever be made. Lip service, cosmetic measures and intellectual sounding armchair planning that befools the people will thrive. The disgrace and shame of being placed at the bottom will continue. Yes, I’m a nobody, but I’ll continue, through Letters to the Editor of The Shillong Times, to pound heavily at those in power who fail to bring about a progressive change in our education system! Accountability must now be the ethos of our education department!
On page four of the same day we read. “AP forms group to elevate the learning levels of kids.” Note the working group; to be headed by Principal Secretary and IT Secretary, School Education and School Education Commissioner. Now compare that to the Meghalaya working group. Where are the professionals of Meghalaya? Need I say more?
Yours etc.,
Kevin Phillips,
Shillong – 19
Reservations in the 21st century
Editor,
An overdose of virtual and open space debates on the subject of reservation has occupied the minds of the public, be it in funeral homes, banquets, meetings or even in public transports. If reservations have to be relooked and reviewed through a prospective mechanism it should first start by dismissing the inclusion of separate reservation based on tribe or ethnicity and bring in an overall plan of including 80% reservations for all the three Scheduled Tribes and exclusively for residents of the state. As it is we have seen that for every vacancy we find reservations under ST for Khasi, Garo and Jaintia. When the three tribes have already been recognized as ST, why should the ST tag be on, while in other states the ST status is based on one uniform reservation irrespective of the applicant’s sub-tribe as long as he or she is a tribal and a permanent resident of that state.
Reservation has been allowed to be misused by affluent sections of the State. If a tribal can afford to attend highly paid coaching classes or afford expensive education that person should be deterred from taking the reservation quota and instead compete with others in the general category. Let the deserving and underprivileged sections of society who cannot afford expensive education and coaching be the recipients of that quota. In fact, I feel that reservations in this century have taken us backwards. As a result we are neither progressive nor competent in our thought processes.
Yours etc..
Dominic Stadlin Wankhar,
Via email
Even a train tragedy blamed on Muslims
Editor,
This is with reference to the news item captioned “BJP supporter held for spreading fake news in TN “ (ST Dated June 9, 2023). If we thought that the worst train tragedy possibly since Independence would unite us all as Indians in a moment of stunned grief, we have to think again. The hate ecosystem on social media by right wing hoodlums found even this an occasion to spin hate tales and spew venom and they are having a field day. Their success, over the past nine years, is owed in part to their adept poisoning of the public discourse. Politicians, indoctrinated media outlets and squadrons of social media trolls, lie, and demonise Muslims all day long.
Yours etc.,
M Haque,
New Delhi