SHILLONG, Jan 30: The state government has set its sight on incorporation of regional customs, languages, and cultures into the state curriculum framework and will hold talks with various stakeholders next month to pave the way forward.
Education Minister Rakkam A. Sangma announced this here on Tuesday. He said that the department will meet with the leaders of the three district councils and even writers’ societies to talk about incorporating local content — such as music, local customs, and the Sixth Schedule — into the curriculum for the students.
Sangma emphasised the need for a uniform curriculum, pointing out that the Education department is aware that various schools use textbooks published by different publishers.
“A state’s uniformed, standard curriculum is important. Maybe the schools can use different textbooks for other supplemental subjects, but major subjects should be uniformed,” he explained.
It should be noted that the state government has chosen to implement NCERT textbooks in educational institutions to bring the state at par with the national standard.
He clarified that all schools must use the textbooks recommended by the MBoSE and mentioned that the Catholic Schools Association had recently sent a letter to the government asking to be allowed to use their own textbooks for an additional year.
According to Sangma, the government has chosen to grant an exemption for this academic year; however, starting in the following year, schools affiliated to MBoSE will be required to use the official MBoSE textbooks.
The minister emphasised that all of the newly prescribed textbooks will be available in the market in a few weeks, stressing the importance of having uniform standard textbooks for all schools.
Sangma also voiced concern about the fact that many students of the state are failing the Common University Entrance Test, or CUET.
He acknowledged that there is a need for students of Meghalaya to perform well and that they are currently not doing so.
He remarked, “I was told that there are a lot of empty seats in NEHU as many did not qualify in the CUET,” adding that it is possible that students are under-prepared and treat the test lightly despite their great potential.
The minister had earlier said that he had received information from the Director General of the National Testing Agency regarding the establishment of two CUET centres in Shillong and one centre in Tura, and that the process had already commenced.
Govt prescribes 10 bagless days for school students
Every school in Meghalaya shall ensure 10 bagless days for students of classes 6-12 during the 2024-25 academic session, the new school calendar notified by the state government said.
Strict action would be taken against the educational institutions that violate this and other guidelines, the government warned.
On bagless days, the students shall attend classes without carrying bags and shall be engaged in co-curricular activities. The schools can decide the days on which the students can come without their bags, the notification said.
According to the notification, the new academic session starts on February 15 and ends on November 29 for pre-primary classes and December 20 for classes 1 to 12.
The winter vacation would be from December 21 to February 9, 2025.
The minimum working days according to the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act would be 200 days for classes 1 to 5 and 220 days for classes 6 to 8.
The instructional schedule should be 800 hours for classes 1 to 5 and 1,000 hours for classes 6 to 8.
Apart from the winter vacation, only the holidays as notified by the state government are to be observed and no other days shall be declared as school holidays by the school authorities without the approval of the government, the notification said.
All schools have been directed to adhere to school timings to be planned in a way to facilitate sufficient instructional hours according to the provisions of the RTE Act, it said.
The notification stated that government lower primary schools should have a timing from 9 am to 1 pm while government upper primary schools should function from 9 am to 2 pm.
The timing for government secondary schools should be from 9 am to 3 pm while the timing for government higher secondary schools should be from 9 am to 4 pm, the notification said.
It also stated that all schools shall have an assembly session at the beginning of the school day, which should be entirely conducted by the students to help them improve their communication skills. Current affairs, value education, motivational examples, etc., can be the topics of discussion during the assembly.
The notification said 100% of the syllabus should be followed as applicable for all levels and all necessary planning should be made to ensure the completion of the syllabus in time.
“Teachers should prepare their lesson plans accordingly. Schools should also ensure that apart from academic classes, timings are fixed for sports and library periods,” it said.
The schools have also been directed to ensure that Meghalaya gradually moves toward formative assessments as suggested by the National Education Policy 2020. The schools may plan assessments or unit tests from time to time for the purpose, the notification said.
As laid down in Section 24(e) of the RTE Act, all schools have been asked to hold regular meetings with parents and guardians and apprise them of the regularity in attendance, ability to learn, progress made in learning, and any other relevant information about the child.
