Editor,
This letter is written in response to our honourable Education Minister’s press statement to North East Live published on 11th September, 2023 where he has mentioned the proactive steps taken by the Meghalaya government with regards to steps taken by them to improve the education sector especially in aided colleges.
Firstly, I would like to seek clarification from the concerned Minister who has recently taken charge as to the statement made with regards to the sanctioned teaching posts in the deficit and adhoc colleges in the State. Can he categorically state how many of the total number of posts have been sanctioned in the last decade in each of these aided colleges? As far as I am aware the number of sanctioned post teaching staff has not increased much in these colleges for the government to make the claim of “proactive steps”. Rather a majority of the sanctioned posts he mentioned were those already created two to three decades earlier.
Secondly, as a matter of fact many of these deficit and adhoc colleges which had over the last two decades introduced new departments have done so by recruiting teachers in the college posts (while a few by recruitment in sanctioned posts which are transferred posts that were earlier allocated to other existing departments ). If one carries out a study in the colleges both ad hoc and deficit, especially those located in Shillong one will find that there is an increase in the number of college posts teachers appointed in these colleges.
Further the study will also reveal that many of these teachers are paid a consolidated pay while a few receive a pay scale and this difference in no uniform minimum pay structure is because their pay is determined by the respective Governing Bodies of these institutions basing it on the financial condition of the institution. Sadly for this category of teachers though they perform the same work as the sanctioned post college teachers the very right of “equal pay for equal work” is violated and till date it remains a far cry. In the private colleges which have mushroomed over the years the plight of the teachers is even worse where they are paid a pittance for their service of nation building.
To add on to this, the government which claims it is proactive has till date not taken any steps to ensure that these college posts teachers services are protected as the government has not done anything to ensure that these colleges which are aided by the government adopt uniform service rules for these categories of college post teachers.
The plight of these educated employed youth is that they are exploited though they perform the role of nation builders. Though, the government of Meghalaya has notified the Management Rules in 2013 to govern the Governing Bodies of these institutions but it has sadly not mentioned any rules or regulations that will safeguard the interest of these college posts teachers who are under the direct control of the Governing Body/Management.
Thirdly, the introduction of the NEP 2020 and the FYUP programme where new and additional courses like Skill Enhancement and Multi-Disciplinary Courses the government which claims to be proactive has not even sanctioned new posts. Had the government been committed to improving the education sector and our unemployed youth they could have if they had planned the implementation of NEP sanctioned additional posts at least for these courses. Sadly it may be pointed out that even a college run by the government is recruiting teachers for these new courses on an hourly basis.
As a matter of fact when the honourable Supreme Court had passed a judgement on introducing Environmental Education (M C Mehta vs Union of India case in 1991) as a subject in colleges the government has till date not created sanctioned posts for the deficit and aided colleges for this subject in Deficit or ad hoc colleges. These colleges who were compelled to introduce this subject in the semester system and continue running this course now renamed as Value added courses under FYUP are doing so majorly by recruiting teachers under college posts.
Lastly, the number of aided and private colleges is far more than the government colleges in the State. Is it not high time for this proactive government under the leadership of an efficient Education Minister to walk the talk and act proactively rather than making tall claims of what the government has done for these aided institutions?
May I state that education as a subject is under the concurrent list implying that it is as much the responsibility of the Centre as it is of the State. The NEP 2020 is a policy of the Centre and currently is being run in all colleges through our proactive government which is concerned about our youth but where and what are the steps taken so far by this proactive government towards ensuring quality?
The answer is that in the last three decades the State government preparedness is seen in the fact that it has hardly created a substantial number of sanctioned posts. Rather they have shrugged their responsibility to the colleges of which the majority is aided and private. If the Education Minister claims otherwise can he publicly share how many posts have been created in the aided colleges – college wise? As a matter of fact, the only step that the government has taken so far is the constitution of the State Education Commission in July 2023.
Amanda Basaiawmoit
Shillong
