By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Dec 21: The Opposition on Thursday held the government and its delivery mechanisms responsible for the high dropout rate of school children in Meghalaya.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had informed the Lok Sabha on Monday that Meghalaya has registered the third-highest dropout rate in India in Class 10 with 33.5 per cent. The dropout rate in Class 10 for the country stands at 20.6 per cent as of 2021-22 with Odisha being the worst performing state in this regard followed by Bihar.
“It seems the state government is not taking a serious note of this,” said Opposition Chief Whip and Congress MLA, Saleng A Sangma on Thursday.
Sangma explained that dropout means additional burden as it leads to unemployment and anti-social activities. “It is a very serious matter that our children are dropping out like this. What will happen to the future of the state? What will happen to the society?” he questioned.
“We are talking about entrepreneurship programme, employment and all that but we are ignoring the fate of these dropouts,” he added.
He said the government must take efforts, quickly, to arrest the high dropout rate and focus on the education of these children. “The government has to think about the quality of education so that children will not drop out. The government also has to make sure that teachers are well trained and schools are well informed with what is happening,” Sangma said.
He also suggested that the stakeholders should get together and form a think tank to pressurise the government and suggest correctional steps where required.