Editor,
True reform, I believe, begins not in meetings or reports, but in classrooms where a teacher still waits for support and a child waits to learn.
I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation to Bijoy A. Sangma for his informative and thought-provoking article, “Turning Reports to Results – Real Work Begins to Reform Meghalaya’s Education Scenario” (ST October 24, 2025). His piece makes one pause and reflects on the urgent need to translate the Meghalaya Education Reform Report 2025 into meaningful action that truly touches schools, teachers, and students across the state. I also sincerely welcome the Cabinet’s approval of the MSEC Report 2025, which rightly acknowledges long-standing issues — shortage of teachers, limited access to secondary education, and uneven standards in higher learning — while suggesting promising measures through MSQAAF, SCERT, and MPST.
It does give hope, yet one wonders how soon these good intentions will reach the ground. There are three areas that, if addressed with care, could make the reform more effective and lasting.
First, the absence of a clear financial roadmap. Without knowing how much the proposed steps will cost or how they will be funded, the best plans may remain unfulfilled. Perhaps an initial budget outline for key actions could be shared within the next few months.
Second, the lack of reliable data on where our children stand today. A quick NAS or SLAS-based survey to establish basic learning levels, shared openly, would help all of us — teachers, parents, and citizens — understand where improvement is needed.
Third, the continuing shortage of teachers. With over 1,600 primary schools run by a single teacher, and more than 150 without one, it may be time to look at urgent recruitment, fair incentives for rural postings, and regular in-service training so that no school remains neglected.
Alongside these reforms, I humbly appeal for timely and transparent settlement of post-retirement benefits for teachers serving in Government Aided and Deficit Grant-in-Aid institutions. It is deeply saddening to learn that many retired teachers are still waiting for their gratuity and pension — often their only means of survival after years of devoted service. No one who has spent a lifetime nurturing young minds should have to live in uncertainty and distress in their old age. Prompt and compassionate action in settling these dues will not only ease their hardship but also reflect the state’s respect for its educators.
Perhaps the government could start with a few pilot districts, publish a quarterly Education Scorecard, and invite public participation in monitoring progress. Even small, honest steps like these can help build trust and confidence in the reform process.
Meghalaya today clearly has the will to bring change. What are now needed are steady efforts, open communication, and above all, a touch of compassion — for every child eager to learn and for every teacher who gave a lifetime to teaching.
Yours etc.,
Jairaj,
Via Email
Reforms for Recruitments of Statistical & Research Assistant/Officers
Editor,
Statistical Assistant and Research Assistant are posts that require specialty in the three sisters of Physical Sciences and those are Mathematics, Statistics and Economics. Hence, there should be separate quotas of reservation for these 3 subjects respectively namely Statistical Assistant (Mathematics), Statistical Assistant (Statistics), Statistical Assistant (Economics), Research Assistant (Mathematics), Research Assistant (Statistics), Research Assistant (Economics), Statistical Officer (Mathematics), Statistical Officer (Statistics), Statistical Officer (Economics), Research Officer (Mathematics) Research Officer (Statistics), Research Officer (Economics) and anything in between Assistant to Officer to be observed in the same manner for quota, recruitment and examination.
As such, the question papers should be for these three subjects respectively as three separate papers for recruitment and they must be recruited separately based on the honours subject of the candidates who had applied for the job with quotas.
The most important aspect of the recruitment in these two departments is QUOTA which means that the quota reserved for Mathematics or Statistics or Economics cannot be occupied by a person from another Honours subject whether it is for Research or Statistical Assistant, under any circumstances.
The logic behind this is reform meaning that we require specialization in all these three subjects to work together as a single cohesive unit to achieve the desired empirical results to bring out the best data and analysis of these two departments because a statistician cannot do calculative mathematics work nor can a mathematician do statistical analysis work and an economist most certainly cannot do either of the two even when he takes econometrics. Further, only candidates “with Honours” in either of these 3 subjects should be recruited and not non- Honours candidates on the premise that the works carried out by these two departments in shaping state policy are too important to be allowed for such works to be undertaken by Non-honours candidates.
As of now, both the Eco-Stats and Planning Departments are dominated by Economists when one checks the staff educational background thereby creating an unbalanced analysis of the extremely important works that these two departments carry out in state planning and policy, emanating from their analysis and publications. It is also observed that in the recent MPSC exams, the question paper for economics was fairly easy when compared to mathematics and statistics with “no quota” observed whatsoever, Thus most of the recruits will be 98% economists.
In conclusion, I humbly urge for these two departments to recruit only Honours students with minimum Bachelor or Post Graduate degree specialization in these three subjects and to have QUOTAS for these three subjects during recruitment to create a balance and subsequent analysis for the best results and deductions. For this to come to fruition, the Service Rules in these two departments must be changed in terms of quota, recruitment and Honours only subject specialization.
Yours etc.,
Melarbor Thabah,
Via email
Controversial liqour tax
Editor,
Apropos of the news “Liquor vendors oppose proposed 5% deduction.” (ST 24, October 2025), the Integrated Excise Management Systems (IEMS) being implemented in Meghalaya is a digital platform designed to streamline and monitor the state liquor trade from production and bottling to retail and taxation. The key component and the controversy surrounding it is IEMS which aims to track permits, passes and transactions across bottling units, breweries, bonded warehouses and retail outlets and to centralise financial records and inventory flow to reduce leakage and improve compliance. The idea is to automate tax deductions and ensure accurate reporting of sales and excise duties. There is a controversy in implementing the system as it is being rolled out by C-Tel Infosystem Private Limited, a Hyderabad based firm.
There have been documented failures and disruptions linked to the Integrated Excise Management System (IEMS) in other states, notably Rajasthan. A case study of Rajasthan’s IEMS 2.0 found that there was a major software glitch in IEMS 2.0 developed by a Bengaluru based firm which led to erroneous debit and credit notifications for liquor license holders. Vendors receive alerts of large deposits that were never actually credited, causing confusion and halting liquor sales in districts like Sikar, Jhalawar, Udaipur and Bikaner. The issue disrupted stock orders and led to widespread operational paralysis with both vendors and excise officials acknowledging persistent problems. This precedent raises critical questions for Meghalaya’s rollout of the system. If glitches replicate, civic trust and compliance could suffer. External tech firms managing sensitive fiscal flows may trigger resistance. Therefore, a Rs 100 crore payout to a private firm amid vendor protests could be seen as extractive rather than reformative measures.
Yours etc;
VK Lyngdoh,
Via email
