SHILLONG, May 29: UDP president and Cabinet Minister Metbah Lyngdoh on Friday admitted that Meghalaya’s education system is crippled by decades of “fragmented” policy and deep-rooted structural failures, even as he shielded the current MDA government by claiming recent reforms need more time to rescue the state from its bottom-tier national ranking.
Speaking to reporters, Lyngdoh described the state’s poor performance in the national Performance Grading Index (PGI) as a “serious concern.” However, he attributed the low scores to inherited gaps in planning rather than current administrative lapses.
Lyngdoh pointed to a disorganized school system where multiple categories of institutions operate under different management and pay structures. Highlighting the disparity in teacher remuneration, he noted that salary ranges between Rs 10,000 and Rs 40,000 have long undermined the quality of educational delivery and learning outcomes.
“The challenges confronting the education sector are not recent but have accumulated over many years,” Lyngdoh said. “We have seen a lot of initiatives taken by the government, but the benefits may not be visible instantly.”
While expressing confidence that current interventions would “eventually yield results,” the UDP leader was careful to distance himself from the direct accountability of the portfolio. He clarified that since the Education Department is under another minister (from the NPP), specific queries regarding the roadmap for improvement should be directed to that ministry.
Despite the defensive stance, Lyngdoh’s admission underscores the gravity of the crisis facing Meghalaya’s students, who continue to lag behind in a competitive national landscape due to what he termed “long-standing structural issues.”
