SHILLONG, Jan 30: Higher technical education scenario in the state is bound for a transformation, if the words of Chief Minister Conrad Sangma come out as true.
The CM on Tuesday said that the state government will continue investment in education and further boost the creation of infrastructure for higher and technical education in the state.
Conrad asserted that higher and technical education will get a major boost as centres for higher learning in Science, Engineering and Architecture are being set up in the state.
He was speaking at the inaugural function of Sohra Government College in East Khasi Hills in the presence of Education Minister Rakkam A Sangma and Health Minister, Ampareen Lyngdoh.
“We believe in investing in our youth, and our priority will remain education”, he said, adding that the government’s focus is on investing in human capital.
Talking about tough decision for making reforms in education, the CM said, “We had to take bold decision to make real change in a short period of time. The then Education Minister, Lahkmen Rymbui, was very clear and decisive in his approach and we moved forward to ensure that we are able to deliver transformative change in the education sector”.
“For years, the Cess on education was collected by the government but was never spent. When we took over, we decided that every single rupee collected through Cess should be used for education. From the Cess, we have started construction of new infrastructure as well as renovation of different schools and colleges”, he added.
He said that all government secondary schools across the state have been accorded sanction for either renovation or construction of new building. Close to 2,500 lower primary schools have been either renovated or constructed with a budget of Rs 500 crore, he added.
On the subject of introduction of NCERT textbooks for Meghalaya Board of School Education (MBoSE), he said, “Mathematics and Science are uniform throughout the world, implementation of NCERT textbooks will ensure that our children are at par with students from the rest of the world”.
He further stated that MBoSE will adhere to NCERT guidelines and include local and traditional knowledge in the textbooks for schools. “We are at the bottom in the Performance Grading Index (PGI). The introduction of NCERT textbooks in our schools will improve our learning outcomes. By adopting NCERT textbooks, we will improve by 15-20 per cent in the graph, as learning outcomes are the basis of PGI”, he said, adding that NCERT textbooks will ensure quality content.
With regard to the introduction of multi-disciplinary subjects under National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, Sangma said that all government colleges across the state will introduce Commerce and Science stream.
“The proposal is with the Finance department and will be put forward for Cabinet’s approval. I would like to assure that as the Chairman of the Cabinet, we will surely get the proposal cleared as this is in the interest of our student community”.
He however revealed that it would be a tough decision as it will incur financial implication of close to 20 crore. But the government is committed to make sure that the resources and the funds are made available, Conrad added.
At present, the government has a budget of Rs 2000 crore for education, which is the highest among all departments.
Education Minister Rakkam Sangma assured support to all education institutions across the state so as to elevate the infrastructure and learning outcomes.
Among others who spoke on the occasion included Health Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh, Chief Advisor to the government, Lahkmen Rymbui, Shella MLA Balajied Kupar Synrem and Sohra MLA Gavin Mylliem.
The Sohra Government College, formerly known as Sohra College, was provincialised in 2009. The upgrade to a provincialised college accorded administrative approval for a sanction amount of Rs 12 crore on October 9, 2020.
With the sanction, the state government created infrastructural access to academic building (classroom, library, laboratory and toilets), boys’ and girls’ hostels with advanced furniture and equipment.
