Shillong, Feb 19 : Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the State Assembly Ronnie V Lyngdoh on the second day of the budget session, flagged the issue of exorbitant fees of educational institution in the State and asked the State government to initiate mechanism or fix a minimum fee structure.
The Leader of the Opposition said this while moving the amendment to the Motion of Thanks on Governor’s address in the State Assembly
“Ensure that we have some mechanism that all colleges especially those receiving assistance from the government to fixed a minimum admission fees, tuition fees so that the parents are encouraged to send the students to pursue their studies. This is also one reason why drop out rates are increasing,” said Lyngdoh.
Acknowledging that measures are being taken by the State government to improve education in the State, he highlighted, “All of us know when the admissions process starts people come to us for assistance because admission fees are so high, some in the range of Rs 20000 to 30,000. Now if someone has two three children to be admitted in colleges it puts a lot of pressure on the parents.”
“Yes there are measures being taken to ensure less drop outs but I don’t see any effort or mention to set up more government college,” he added.
Citing instances of his constituency, he said, “In Mylliem upper Shillong not less than 25 secondary and higher secondary school are there but not a single government college. If we have government colleges in rural areas it will ease pressure on the parents to allow the children to pursue studies”.
“The government is trying to ensure that the state progress but unless we have a educated population, I don’t know, with this intervention how much will they achieve the objective,” he questioned.
He cited how parents spend a lot of money everyday on transportation and snacks every single day so that their children can go to colleges in town.
“I was told colleges are receiving crore of rupees as assistance from the government, but then they are still charging very high fees if this government can look into this that, the colleges receiving the grant do not exploit by charging higher fees,” he added.
On Governor’s address, he said, “I express regret that the Governor’s address fails to mention any effective measures to deal with the failure of the government to address issue of influx and immigration, price rice, failure of JJM, safety and security of people in border areas, educational infrastructure, delay in completion of medical colleges, poor treatment of ASHAs and Anganwadi workers farmers”.
