By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Aug 7: The Meghalaya government has completed 200 school projects across the state while work on 107 others is going on and 100 more are planned.
The completed projects include new government LP school buildings and old ones repaired or renovated.
“Some 200 projects have been completed in the last five years and 107 projects are ongoing. About 100 more will come up during this financial year,” Education Minister Rakkam A Sangma said on Wednesday.
“This year, we will be constructing 100-plus new school buildings across the state. We are taking a report from the department and have asked them to send proposals on a priority basis,” he said.
He said the government has committed to and earmarked the funds for new school buildings as well as repair and renovation work according to requirements to be completed in the next two years.
Sangma said the LP schools have been slotted into four categories based on their requirement – category A for new buildings, category B for moderate repairing and renovation, category C for lesser repair work, and category D for very little repair and renovation work.
On the criticism from other political parties that the condition of many LP schools across the state is in a pathetic state, he said: “What they say is true because the school infrastructure was not given priority in the last 50 years.”
“All the buildings are coming up because of this government and its Mission Education. We have completed about 60% of the work,” he added.
In a related development, the fourth State Higher Education Council (SHEC) meeting discussed the exorbitant fee structure of educational institutions.
“Some colleges are charging huge fees although the government has supported them while the government schools are charging very low fees,” Sangma said.
“The state regulatory board for fees is looking to fix it after going through the data collected. We want to ensure some uniformity,” he said.
He said the discussion during the meeting revolved around the progress in the education sector, especially in the implementation of infrastructure projects funded by DoNER and NEC.