SHILLONG, Oct 27: The Voice of the People Party (VPP) on Sunday condemned the MDA Government for not doing anything to get down to the basics in order to address the suffering of the teaching community.
Talking about the problems of the teachers and the recurring incidents of teachers hitting the street over their demands, VPP spokesperson Batskhem Myrboh said, “This is a vexed problem that has accumulated over the decades. There are certain factors that have cumulatively led to this problem. An incompetent bureaucracy has continued with the colonial mindset where the government’s role is simply to provide aid to the schools/colleges.”
“Therefore, successive governments have failed to take upon themselves the responsibility of ensuring that proper policy and planning for education are in place. This is evident by the fact that 90 per cent of educational institutions in Meghalaya belong to the private sector,” he said, accusing the NPP-led MDA Government of continuing with the failed policies of the previous Congress government.
He continued: “For a long time, there was no regulation on the establishment of schools/colleges and even today there is no regulation on the qualifications and service conditions of teachers in the private sector. Due to this colonial mindset coupled with unmindful political pursuit followed by unscrupulous and irresponsible political leaders, grant-in aids were given to schools excessively to the extent that the sector has now become a white elephant that consumes resources without generating adequate outcome.”
Stating that aid to schools and colleges in Meghalaya is driven much more by politics than by educational needs and economic considerations, Myrboh said, “This is happening even with the People’s College scheme. Further, it appears that the state government considers teaching as a non-professional job that anybody can manage and therefore, does not deserve good treatment from the government.”
Talking about reformative measure, he said the government should go for rationalisation of schools whereby the number of schools/colleges should be reduced followed by the number of teachers over time. Efforts should be taken to encourage more residential schools/colleges and those that have consistently failed to enrol students and perform well should be closed down, he said.
“Strong political will is needed to deal with this gigantic problem,” he said, highlighting the need to increase budgetary allocation for the education sector. This can be done by avoiding unnecessary and wasteful expenditures such as appointment of political appointees, organising useless festivals, stopping foreign tours of ministers and public representatives, stopping the reimbursement of income tax of All India Services Officers, stopping of distribution of meaningless and useless tablets to higher secondary students and such other measures.
