Chief Minister, Conrad Sangma has reiterated that Meghalaya is staring at a crisis as far as education is concerned. He stated at a public function that Meghalaya currently has 206 schools with zero enrolment and 2,269 schools with single-digit enrolment. This has not happened under the watch of the MDA government. It has been a chronic ailment dating back to several decades but one that did not receive due attention. It is only when the educational outcomes in Meghalaya were reviewed by external agencies that the malaise is now out in the open. This abysmal status of education should not have been allowed to continue but for the fact that successive governments lacked the political will to take necessary action. Most of these rural schools were started without weighing their survivability. They stand testimony to the political opportunism of the times when even teachers were political appointees, many of whom sub-contracted their teaching jobs to others.
The investment in these schools which were allowed to function simply because no government dared to shut them down for fear of political ramifications and the prospect of losing the next elections, have resulted in zero outcomes. No MLA ever cared for the fate of students or bothered to find out why students were not enrolled in these schools and how so many teachers were appointed in the absence of students. Now the onus is upon the MDA-2 government to take corrective action and rationalise the different categories of schools including closing many of these schools. The Chief Minister voiced his concern about not hampering the livelihoods of teachers but the question here is whether the livelihoods of teachers in non-functional schools are more important than the students. No one has ever consulted students and asked them why they prefer to stay out of the classroom than inside it. Some hard and decisive actions need to follow now. The Government has to admit that education in Meghalaya is in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). The focus should shift from Shillong to the rural hamlets immediately. That’s where the problems are embedded. The Education Commission that recently submitted its report relied on secondary data because getting primary data is time consuming. Yet Meghalaya needs the latest drop-out figures at every level of education and ask why the Net Enrolment Ration (NER) is falling as student progress to higher classes. Government is investing a lot on several programmes but very little in data collection. Without robust data how can any meaningful intervention happen?
Government must also accept that the outdated curriculum written by authors with no knowledge of the state and its eco-system is rejected by students because it is irrelevant to their way of life. The curriculum simply does not address the needs of students in rural Meghalaya. Also, the directive by the Education Department that no child shall be held back in any class till the completion of elementary education is problematic. How can a student who has not grasped the basics in Class 8 be promoted to Class 9? That student will then fail in the SSLC exams and drop out. Educational reforms are warranted but after extensive consultations and pragmatic analysis.
