The proposal for implementation of commerce and science streams in all government colleges in the State is now being examined by the Finance Department.
Informing this during a function at Sohra Government College today, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said the State government wanted to introduce multi-disciplinary subjects under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and as part of this all government colleges across the State will introduce commerce and science streams.
Sangma said that the proposal is with the Finance Department and will be put up to the cabinet for approval soon.
He assured that as chairman of the cabinet, he would surely get the proposal cleared as this is in the interest of the student community.
Stating that it will be a tough decision as it would incur financial implication of close to Rs 20 crore, Sangma however said that the State government is committed to make sure that the resources and the funds are made available.
At present, the government has a budget of Rs 2000 crore for education, which is highest amongst all departments, he said.
Sangma also said that the government will continue to invest in education and will further boost infrastructure creation for higher and technical education in the State.
He asserted that higher and technical education will get a major boost as centres for higher learning in science, engineering and architecture are being set up in the State.
“We believe in investing in our youth, and our priority will remain education,” he said, while asserting that the government has envisaged investing in human capital.
Informing that the State government had to take tough decisions for making reforms in education, Sangma also lauded former education minister Lahkmen Rymbui .
According to Sangma, Rymbui was very clear and decisive in his approach and the government moved forward to ensure that it is able to deliver transformative change in the education sector.
The chief minister said that for years, the cess on education was collected by the government but was never spent.
He said that when his government took over, it decided that every single rupee collected through the cess should be used for education.
“From the cess, we have started construction of new infrastructure as well as renovation of different schools and colleges,” Sangma added.
He informed that all government secondary schools across the State have been accorded sanctions for either renovation or construction of new buildings. He also informed that close to 2500 lower primary schools have been either renovated or constructed with a budget of Rs 500 crore.
On introduction of NCERT textbooks for Meghalaya Board of School Education (MBOSE), he said that mathematics and science are uniform throughout the world and implementation of NCERT textbooks will ensure that the State’s children are at par with students from the rest of the world.
He further stated that MBOSE will adhere to NCERT guidelines and include local and traditional knowledge in the textbooks for schools.
“We are at the bottom in the Performance Grading Index (PGI). The introduction of NCERT textbooks in our schools will improve our learning outcomes. By adopting NCERT textbooks we will improve by 15-20 per cent in the graph, as learning outcomes are the basis of PGI”, he added.
“NCERT textbooks will ensure quality content”, he stressed.
Education Minister Rakkam Sangma said that the government is committed to provide all support to education institutions across the State to elevate the infrastructure and learning outcomes.
Amongst others who spoke on the occasion included Health Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh, Chief Advisor to the government Lahkmen Rymbui, Shella MLA Balajied Kupar Synrem and Sohra MLA Gavin Mylliem.
Sohra Government College, formerly known as Sohra College was provincialised in 2009. The upgradation of Sohra Government College to Provincialised College was given administrative approval for a sanction amount of Rs 12 crore on October 9, 2020.
With the sanction, the State government has created infrastructural access to Academic Building (classroom, library, laboratory & toilets), Boys’ Hostel and Girls’ Hostel with advanced furniture and equipment.
The Provincialised College will facilitate access to multidisciplinary education to students of the district with the introduction of science and commerce stream, eliminating the need to travel across and outside the State for access to higher education which tends to be a financial incentive for aspiring students from the socio economic group.
