From CK Nayak
NEW DELHI, May 10: Once known as the education hub of the Northeast, Meghalaya is now facing a sharp decline in its educational standards despite having one of the highest numbers of schools and teachers in the region and the country.
Meghalaya has the highest dropout rates, abysmally low enrolment of students and very low pass percentage. Approximately 22,000 students drop out every year, with rural areas being disproportionately affected.
As per the latest findings, the dropout rate stands at 21.7% in secondary school level which is the highest in the Northeast and well above the national average of 12.6%. More boys are leaving schools than girls. The problem is more acute in Garo Hills than in Khasi-Jaintia Hills.
Ironically, at 14,582, Meghalaya has the highest number of schools with an equally high number of teachers (55,160).
Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma shared these figures in a “conversion” session moderated by journalist Shekhar Gupta on the first day of the prelude to the Shillong Literary Festival here. The festival ended on Saturday.
Replying to a query from author and journalist Sanjoy Hazarika, Sangma said Tripura with about 10 lakh more population than Meghalaya has only 4,929 schools and 36,433 teachers. All five other states in the Northeast (barring Assam and Tripura) together have fewer schools than Meghalaya, Sangma said.
Another paradox is that the enrolment of students is zero in as many as 206 schools in Meghalaya. In 2,269 others, it is only in single digit, the Chief Minister said showing graphs.
Altogether 18 deficit and ad hoc schools have zero enrolment and 1,141 have single digit registrations.
“The funny part is that there are areas where there are five schools each with only five students as well as five teachers,” Sangma said, adding that some are government schools or government-aided schools, or private or church-run schools aided by the government.
“The government cannot take required action to streamline the rot due to various reasons,” Sangma said, admitting that there are political compulsions, financial burden and humanitarian concerns which make major reforms in the sector difficult.
Every now and then, some group of teachers takes to the streets, either for the regularisation of their services or pay hike. For the same reasons, they cannot even be easily posted or transferred in a rational way, he said.
Intervening, Shekhar Gupta said that Meghalaya has the highest number of young populations in the country. If these young minds are not gainfully engaged, there would be socio-economic unrest, he cautioned.
But, going deep into the crisis, there are several interconnected factors leading to this cumulative problem. Many students leave school to support their families through manual labour or farming due to poverty.
The poor rate of pass percentage, in some cases even zero per cent, often discourages students from re-enrolling. There is also a critical shortage of secondary schools compared to primary schools, forcing students to travel long distances or pay for expensive private education.
In case of girl students, they are often kept home to care for younger siblings or assist with household chores, while boys abstain to help the parents in farming or collecting forest produce. Meghalaya government has taken several “multi-pronged” strategies to address these challenges.
Efforts have been made for renovating school buildings and introducing textbooks with QR codes that link to video lessons and solved question papers. The World Bank recently approved a $35 million loan to support health and education outcomes for 5 lakh adolescents in the state, specifically targeting dropout reduction.
Going back to history, modern education in the region was pioneered by missionaries, who established some of the earliest schools and colleges in the Khasi, Jaintia, and Garo Hills. Institutions such as St. Edmund’s College, St. Anthony’s College, St. Mary’s College, and Lady Keane College have traditionally attracted students from across Northeast and beyond.
Meghalaya’s literacy rate saw a significant jump from 62.56% in 2001 to approximately 75.5% by 2011. The state has some of the topmost higher education institutes like North-Eastern Hill University, Indian Institute of Management, and NEIGRIHMS, a major regional medical and research institute, among others.
