Shillong, Nov 29:Chief Minister, Conrad K Sangma, today, released the second and final instalment of the Umbrella Post Matric Scholarship amounting to Rs 130 crore for about 70,000 students for the 2024-25 academic year.
The programme was held at the District Auditorium, Tura attended by Education Minister Lakhmen Rumbui, Commissioner & Secretary Vijay Kumar Mantri, West Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner Vibhor Aggarwal and Director of Higher & Technical Education Hazel DB Sangma.
In his address, the Chief Minister said the government is releasing the scholarship from its own resources as the funds from the Centre had not yet been received. He said the decision to release the scholarship in advance was to ease the difficulties of students.
He said the government has worked out a system with the Centre where scholarships can be released in advance. Once the Rs 130 crore is released to Meghalaya Rural Bank it will take a few days for processing and account verification of the students before the students finally receive the scholarship in their accounts, he added.
Sangma urged students to ensure that their bank account is linked to Aadhaar.
The Chief Minister reiterated that education continues to be a top priority and announced reformative steps to resolve the long-pending issue faced by our Ad Hoc and SSA teachers. “We are very close to finalising things for a solution that can be implemented from the next financial year,” he said.
Sangma also outlined the government’s long-term vision, including youth-focused programmes such as CM Elevate, YESS Meghalaya, PRIME, MGMP, STAR and Hello Meghalaya.
He said the government had planned economic growth not just for the coming years but till 2047, with policies and programmes designed to position the youth as key drivers. “You, the youth, will be in the driver’s seat to take us into that phase of 2047 where Meghalaya should become one of the best states in the country,” he said.
The Chief Minister also underscored the role of the youth in the vision of a $10 billion economy for the state.
Education, Lakhmen Rymbu described the day as “red-letter day” for the student community. “We will continue to live up to the commitments made to our people to transform education and to make it accessible for everybody,” he said.
About 7000 students joined the occasion online from 200 locations all over the state. The program was attended by heads of institutions, teachers and students besides officials from the education department.
Later, the Chief Minister, Conrad K Sangma, who is the MLA of South Tura held ‘MLA Connect’ with the residents of Walbakgre and Fancy Valley localities.
Residents raised issues that were directly affecting the localities, especially issues related to land settlement, street lights, CCTVs, internal roads, community toilets, garbage collection and disposal, inadequate water supply etc.
