Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma today talked up his government’s performance in the education sector, saying that it is impossible to overcome all shortcomings within a few years.
Sangma said this at the 25th anniversary commemoration of Mawsynram Border Area College.
Despite the numerous challenges in the sector, the government spends more than 15 percent of the state’s annual budget on education and is committed to improve the overall education scenario in the state.
Teacher salaries, infrastructure, poor national rankings and unimpressive pass percentages are all issues that bedevil the education sector in Meghalaya. But the CM refused to be disheartened.
“Education has been an area where, as a government, we have focused a lot,” he said. “It is one of the most challenging sectors. It is not easy for the government to try and resolve all the issues in a short span of time. But we have taken up the challenge and working towards improving education through the various interventions – whether it is the Education Policy, whether it is the investment in government school buildings, whether it is the opening up of a ‘people’s college’, whether it is the different support that we give towards infrastructure, even to private schools and colleges.”
He added that Rs 2,500 crore out of the state’s total budget of Rs 16,000 crore is allocated to running expenditure of schools and colleges and investments in infrastructure are made on top of that.
“Clearly, from the government’s side, the kind of importance that is given to education can be seen by the amount of budget that we spend on education,” the CM said, adding that all stakeholders, not just the government, have a role to play in improving the education scenario.
Sangma also said that the government is exploring ways to upscale higher education in rural areas, either by creating new infrastructure or by increasing the capacity of the higher educational institutes in rural areas.
During the function, the Chief Minister, along with Rajya Sabha MP WR Kharlukhi, Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui and other dignitaries, unveiled a bust of Shrolenson Marbaniang, the founder member of Mawsynram Border Area College and also released the silver jubilee souvenir of the college.
