Civil servants who undertake mid-career courses could have the state government foot the bill up to a limit of Rs 15 lakh.
The state cabinet cleared a proposal in this regard today in a bid to incentivise officials.
Mid-career sponsored courses will include training for senior level officials belonging to the All-India Services, Meghalaya Civil Service, Meghalaya Police Service, Forest and Finance services.
Cabinet minister and government spokesman Paul Lyngdoh said that this is being done to encourage and incentivise officials to continue learning by pursuing courses at various universities that provide higher degree and diploma courses.
However, officials will not be able to take leave to pursue such courses but will have to fit their studies around their work.
Lyngdoh said that courses like those in public policy, professional certificate programmes, MBAs for working professionals, etc, are those that officials might consider taking to improve themselves.
The sponsorship will be available to up to three officers per year. The civil servants should also have served at least seven years before being eligible. If the official fails to complete the course or does not attain sufficient grades, the sponsorship will have to be refunded.
“The whole idea is that we need to upscale the efficiency of our officers,” Lyngdoh said. “A lot of what the government is trying to do suffers when officers are not qualified enough to understand some of the nitty gritty of administration. For instance, like noting on files, which are not clear, which shows lack of depth of understanding of the officer.”
