Meghalaya CM writes to Union Education Minister, highlights issues related to education in state

Shillong (Meghalaya) [India], July 4 : Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Tuesday wrote a letter to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan urging immediate action to resolve pressing issues affecting the state's education system.

The letter highlights five key areas that require urgent attention and intervention to enhance the quality of teaching and learning in Meghalaya which bears a direct impact on the quality of teaching and learning thereby affecting the performance of students and their learning outcomes.

In a letter to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma appreciated his dynamic leadership to bring about the overall development of the education sector in the country and with a mission to disseminate learner-centric strategy with an emphasis on equity, access, and high-quality education.

The first concern raised by CM Conrad Sangma pertains to the shortage of trained teachers in Meghalaya.

"The State of Meghalaya has a huge backlog of untrained teachers due to limited Institutional facilities. The State have only 5(five) College of Teacher Education (CTE) with an intake capacity of only 350 seats per academic year against a backlog of 5548 Secondary and 2043 Higher Secondary untrained teachers. The state evidently has a very low capacity for carrying out B.Ed courses, which is presently a minimum pre-service professional qualification for Secondary and Higher Secondary teachers," the letter written to Pradhan reads.

It further raised the concern about the backlog of 18900 untrained elementary teachers as the state has only seven DIETs and one Teacher Training Centre with an intake of 550 trainees per academic session, posing a huge challenge to bridge this gap.

"The Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed) programme is a specifically designed package for in-service untrained teachers working in primary and upper primary schools of different states of the country. The programme has been of immense support to the State of Meghalaya to bridge the backlog of untrained teachers, wherein 34,730 Elementary Teachers of Meghalaya attended the Off-line course successfully during the year 2013 to 2019. Despite these efforts, the States still have a huge backlog of 18900 untrained Elementary Teachers. The State have only seven DIETs and one Teacher Training Centre with an intake of 550 trainees per academic session, thereby posing a huge challenge to bridge this gap," the letter said, requesting the Union Minister to allow the state government to clear the backlog as a one-time amnesty programme for the Secondary, Higher Secondary in-service teachers of Meghalaya under the IGNOU- Programmes - Distance - Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) and for the Elementary in-service teachers of Meghalaya under the NIOS - Programme - Distance Mode - Diploma in Elementary Education Programme as a special case.

CM Conrad Sangma also emphasized the challenges faced by the state in implementing the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

"The State Government of Meghalaya is preparing to implement the NEP in its entirety and considering that the State is not equipped with adequate infrastructure and other logistic support that will require additional funds for appointment of teachers, construction of an additional classroom, development of Pedagogy Resource Training, ECCE development, School complexes, etc. for which the assistance of the Central Government is sought for," it said.

Furthermore, CM Sangma highlighted the shortfall in funding under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and urged to reconsider the funding pattern.

"The total Approved Budget Estimates Outlay w.e.f.2018 -2023 is Rs 3407.47 crore, whereas the Actual Releases is Rs.2722.22 Crore and the Expenditure incurred during 2018-2023 is Rs 2377.33 Crore. In this regard, a balance of Rs 685 Crore against the estimated budget is realized through the last 5 years, therefore, there is a shortfall of Annual Work Plan & Budget-PAB estimates against actual release which is insufficient to meet the aspiration of the State in fulfilling the NEP 2020 and other quality aspects such as spillover, timely release of teachers' salary, while in provincialization of teachers' post is still ongoing the support of the Central Government is still required. My earnest request to your good office to please re-consider the funding pattern and release under SSA for allowing the State to comply with the NEP-2020 aims and objectives," it reads.

The letter also drew attention to the vacancies in various positions within North Eastern Hill University (NEHU).