By Toki Blah
At the risk of sounding like a stuck record disc, I once again return to the topic of Education in Meghalaya! Why? Reason is because I sincerely believe that it is crucial for our survival as a state and as a community. The urge to write on the subject is further spurred on by the fact that the PGI ( Performance Grading Index) shows Meghalaya at the bottom of the list, the worst performing state. Now despite this; despite the importance of the subject, except for the few “usual suspects”, none seem duly concerned about this dismal state of affairs. No one seems bothered about the future of our children. Out of the 60 MLAs of the state only the CM and the Education Minister have referred to it. 58 other MLAs and the political parties they belong to, either have nothing to comment or they consider it below their dignity or level of understanding to do so. The so-called Pressure Groups ( Sengbhalang, consisting of student bodies) prefer to keep mum over the issue. The Church, which sponsors most of the elementary and secondary schools in the rural areas, believes it has nothing to say. So what is the take home point from all this silence?
It simply enforces a very discordant suspicion. That the entire political setup; the Pressure Groups (self proclaimed saviors of the community) and the Church itself ( that incidentally is the sponsor of most of the mission schools), we seem to depend on prefers an illiterate uneducated base to survive on! “So lets maintain the Status Quo”, appears to be the catchword for these entities! As such none are interested in applying their minds on how to improve education in Meghalaya. A sad conclusion but one we are forced to arrive at!
Let us therefore focus on the Education Department and see what they have to say on the matter. The Education Department it appears has developed a comprehensive strategy to improve its PGI score and is diligently implementing it or that is what they claim. On this score the Education Department has emerged with a paper titled “Discussion Paper on Consolidation of Multiple Grant in Aid Schemes for Educational Institutions in Meghalaya,” on which public comments are invited. In a nutshell the paper explores the need to consolidate the multiple Grant-in-Aid (GIA) schemes currently supporting educational institutions in Meghalaya.
The proposal forms an integral part of the above-mentioned comprehensive strategy. Why so? Well, according to statistics the reasons for the above proposals appear to be many and evidently genuine. First and foremost is the political and social neglect and inattention paid to Education for the last 50 years of statehood. This has resulted in ad-hoc and unplanned implementation of schemes within the sector that has in turn produced more schools than are really necessary, 14,582 in all and of these 240 have zero while 2,269 others have single digit enrolment. The above employ a record no of 55,160 teachers, some trained others not but employed under different categories of schemes and enjoying different pay grades. Add to this is the near total absence of supervision over how these institutions are run and managed. A right proper mess up! This is the nightmare and horror story for those in search of learning in Meghalaya, especially those in our rural areas. The time to wake up is long overdue and the Education Department’s call for public comments on how to revitalize Meghalaya Education could not be more timely. So let’s try and respond.
The main focus of the above proposals is to streamline the complex and mind boggling Multiple Grant-In-Aid Schemes for Private Educational Institutions presently prevailing in Meghalaya. The thrust of the proposal is towards a unified scheme to be called the Meghalaya Education Grant (MEG) which aims at streamlining funding for education “without reducing existing financial support”. Now this is important, as maintaining the status quo on present expenditure levels will reduce, if not abort, any possible complaints and agitations by both teachers and teaching institutions together. Under MEG, schools and colleges would receive grants based on key indicators such as enrollment, fees collected from students, infrastructure needs, and performance. The proposal seeks to ensure more effective use of public funds for better educational outcomes. It sounds good but disappointingly, remains silent over merit – merit as a benchmark for teachers deserving to teach!
We have to admit that implementing the ethnic based 40:40 reservation system in our education system, especially in the appointment of teachers has played havoc with the teaching environment. Ability and competence has been sacrificed at the altar of political populism. In many schools, especially in the rural areas, under-qualified persons impersonate as providers of knowledge and learning to our children. Meghalaya in an attempt to be politically correct has erred. It has equated providing jobs (through teacher employment) with the need to provide quality education! Two entirely different issues. This write up however has no intention of stirring up a political hornet’s nest by challenging the 40:40 reservation policy. Let it continue but in our attempt to improve Education can the element of merit and aptitude be introduced as a yardstick for teacher appointment, within the constraints of our reservation policy? I believe it can be done simply because it needs to be done. At least let us try and obtain quality and talent in the teaching profession so that it delivers on what we expect from school education.
On going through the Meghalaya Education Grant ( MEG) proposals, one cannot miss the underlying intention of the State Government to go in for decentralization of administration in Education and to grant more autonomy to the educational institutions of the state. In fact it speaks of strengthening institutional governance through greater autonomy in managing staff and resources. The bullet points of the draft proposal highlight (a) Increased Autonomy to SMCs and GBs (b) Minimal Government Interference (c) Unified Scheme Structure (d) Direct Simplified Fund Disbursement to SMC and GB. All this sounds very well but I sincerely hope it isn’t just passing the buck and throwing a seemingly unmanageable education mess under the bus. Hope it is not a jump from the frying pan into the fire. I say this with all the authority at my command because the sponsoring bodies of most of the non-government schools have simply abandoned any Mission Mode for education and have never bothered to capacitate and prepare their School Managing Committees for the basic tasks these bodies are supposed to address. Here I speak more of church run institutions especially those in the rural areas. Interactions with heads of such institutions and their opinion of the MC and MC members forced upon them by the church is too horrifying to narrate. Priests, church elders etc., are the usual key MC members. These are perhaps people with a talent for delivering a soul searching sermon or for a 20 minute boring prayer. On how to manage an educational institution however they haven’t a clue! They have no interest in the institution they are supposed to help manage; need coaxing and numerous reminders before attending any MC meet; talk mostly nonsense and hardly contribute to the well being of the institution. Well the truth has to be told and this is the truth as it exists. The point here is , while decentralization is welcome, there first needs to be a programme for building the capacity of our school MCs. Otherwise, however noble the intention of MEG, the end result will be zilch!
The Discussion Paper has called for feedback from the public and I would like the Department to take this as my feedback on the proposed Meghalaya Education Grant (MEG). Placing this feedback in the public domain is to encourage others who are more experienced; qualified and enthused with the same desire to better our education system, to also air their thoughts and inputs. Teacher training is also a crucial part in Education but since my knowledge on this aspect is limited I leave it to others to fill in with what is needed. However let us not be discouraged by the latest PGI reports but take heart that there are Governments and Education Departments in other states that have introspected their problems and came up with winning solutions for their educational systems. Here I draw the reader’s attention to the remarkable holistic progress made by the Education Department of the Delhi Govt under APP or of similar positive steps taken by other state government in India such as Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Considering the prevailing situation in Meghalaya perhaps a little help and facilitation from those with experience on how to revive education is required.
Browsing the internet one is impressed by the contributions to the field of education by NGOs such as PRATHAM. PRATHAM bio data is available on Google and they claim extraordinary success in undertaking training of teachers and also provide learning skills support to School Managing Committees. MEG should seriously have a closer look at the possible collaboration with such NGOs in its effort to better Education in our state. Withholding of future grants to non- government schools who refuse to participate in such capacity building training can be the strongest enticement for compliance on this score.