CORRESPONDENT
SHILLONG: Demanding immediate education reforms in Meghalaya while extending solidarity to students protesting in New Delhi over the alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG examination, the Confederation of Meghalaya Social Organisations (CoMSO) and the Hynñiewtrep Youths' Council (HYC) on Thursday alleged that the State's education system had witnessed a steep decline, claiming that its grading standards had "gone down the drain" and now ranked one among the poorest in the country. The organisations asserted that even Bihar performed better than Meghalaya on educational indicators and said the Meghalaya Government should take a cue from the developments unfolding elsewhere in the country and initiate urgent reforms, warning that failure to do so could trigger protests by the State's youth and place the government on the back foot.
The organisations made the remarks during a public meeting at Khyndailad, organised by the HYC Education Cell, where a large number of youths, parents and students gathered to express solidarity with students demonstrating at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi and to condemn the reported police action against peaceful protesters.
Talking to Media Persons, HYC president and CoMSO chairman Roy Kupar Synrem highlighted concerns over the condition of education in Meghalaya, he said, "We all know, it is for the people to know what happened in the last few years, the grading system in the Education in Meghalaya has gone down the drain. It is from the bottom compared to every state in India. Bihar is much better compared to Meghalaya, so we are concerned about that."
He said HYC would continue to press for reforms in the education sector. "We have been raising this issue about the education reforms in the state. We will be raising it in the future also, and we hope that whatever that is happening in the country today, the state of Meghalaya also should take queue, because at the end of the day, if the youths of Meghalaya starts protesting to bring reforms, then the state government will be on the back heel, and it will bring a lot of problem to them. So better late than never, the state Government should take steps to, to improve the education system in the state as a whole," Synrem said.
About the protest program, he said it was intended to demonstrate Meghalaya's solidarity with the students protesting in the national capital and to oppose the reported use of excessive force against peaceful demonstrators.
"See the public meeting that is organized today is to show the solidarity, to show that the youths of Meghalaya, stand hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder with the youths that are protesting in Delhi, and secondly, we wanted to send a very clear message to the government of India that police brutality, use of excessive force will not be allowed, or we will not be tolerated. So that is basically is the is the message that you want to send from Meghalaya," the HYC President said.
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