SHILLONG: The Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC) has alleged “criminal conspiracy” behind the errors in MBoSE textbooks and called for an inquiry by a magistrate or a special investigation team.
Speaking to reporters after meeting Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui on Friday, HYC general secretary Robert June Kharjahrin said the minister assured to study the report given by MBoSE and will look into the matter thereafter.
Kharjahrin asserted that the organisation will pursue for an FIR or a PIL if the state government does not initiate any inquiry into the MBoSE errors.
The organisation has demanded an independent enquiry by a Magistrate or by the Special Investigation Team of the Police Department.
Pointing to the major errors and misleading information printed in the textbooks, he said, “It is done with criminal conspiracy to defame the prestige of MBoSE and the Education Department of the state.”
The organisation in a letter to Rymbui pointed out that the Meghalaya state board undertook an exercise to review and change the syllabus and textbooks to be prescribed in various schools of the state which are affiliated to it.“The scale of these errors and misleading information is up to the extent which we may reach in to a conclusion that it was done with a conspiracy, ill motive and with a malafide intention to mislead the students, defame and malign the prestige of MBoSE and the Education Department in the state as a whole,” the letter said.
HYC education secretary Roy Kupar Synrem said the government should take steps to ensure students from primary levels are provided and encouraged to take up such subjects.
In a memorandum submitted to the minister, the organisation said the basic of science, fundamentals of mathematics and competencies in computer sciences start from the formative stages of education — pre-primary, elementary, secondary and higher secondary levels of education.
The organisation pointed out that the state government should initiate steps to set up state university to which the minister said the matter will be looked into as even the Williamnagar Technical University in Williamnagar is not functional yet.
The organisation also demanded the reintroduction of MIL as compulsory subjects in class XI and XII in MBoSE affiliated schools in the state, inclusion of the history of Hynniewtrep community in the school syllabus, early supply of textbooks to students or schools and frequent changes of syllabus as well as re-examination of the present contents of textbooks prescribed by MBoSE.
The organisation also stated the government should take steps to set up centres in every district/sub-divisional headquarters for competitive examinations guidance for the youth to help them prepare for various competitive and entrance examinations.
On the other hand, the organisation also demanded the state should have its own State Level Eligibility Test or State Eligibility Test, seeking public opinions and views on the proposed State Education Policy and giving career and counselling programmes for students in rural areas.
