Govt to set up Meghalaya Education Recruitment Board
School textbooks to be adapted from NCERT
By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Nov 16: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Thursday candidly admitted that all was not well with the education sector in Meghalaya and stated that the government was deeply concerned about the same.
He said that the state Cabinet has taken some decisions following a series of deliberations with the stakeholders.
Prominent among the decisions taken by the Cabinet include the constitution of the Meghalaya Education Recruitment Board (MERB).
As there are about 187 vacancies in the secondary, higher secondary, and higher and technical education levels for which the vacancies have not been filled in four years, the board would now handle the recruitment process and expedite the recruitment process.
The board will be directed to complete the recruitment process within 3 to 6 months. It will also be the overarching board for taking care of recruitment for all education-related matters in the future.
The Cabinet further decided to adopt the NCERT textbooks in schools with modifications in certain subjects to be carried out by the Meghalaya Board of Secondary Education.
Sangma said the decision will allow the adaptation of the NCERT textbooks with necessary modifications from classes I to X.
For schools teaching in local or vernacular language (from classes I to V), the necessary changes in language will be done for the adaptation to take place.
Sangma said the process for Phase 1 will start in the next academic year.
“After consultation and research with many stakeholders in the education system, we concluded that the MBoSE textbooks, especially for mathematics, science and English, are not up to the national standards,” he said while adding that the adaptation aims to improve the overall quality of textbooks, learning outcomes, and quality of content, which will also lead to the reduction in the number of textbooks.
“We will also ensure the curriculum is adapted to the national curriculum and have local content based on our culture and history,” the CM added.
Insisting that the burden of textbooks will reduce for students following the decision, he said 11 textbooks for classes I, II, and III can be replaced by four textbooks under NCERT.
“There will be an improvement in the quality of the content to be imparted to the students. It will be in conformity to the requirements at the national level including the learning outcomes,” Sangma said.
The Cabinet also emphasised that local contents, based on culture, history, and uniqueness, would not be diluted.
Fiscal Act amended
The Cabinet also decided to amend the Meghalaya Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2006, following which there will be 0.5% increase in the budget borrowing.
Sangma said the Act was amended last year as per the Union government’s decision to allow the states to increase their budget borrowings based on reforms taken by the states on an annual basis.
Last year, Meghalaya’s borrowing limit was increased by 4% while this year it has been hiked to 4.5% to allow the state to increase its borrowings by Rs 400 crore.
Department renamed
In another decision, the Cabinet approved the renaming of the Labour Department as the Department of Labour Employment & Skill Development.