Meghalaya Conrad K. Sangma assures help to Mendipathar College

A CORRESPONDENT

SHILLONG: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma on Wednesday said that the Government will examine possible ways forward to extend support to Mendipathar College in North Garo Hills.

Mendipathar College is the oldest and only College in North Garo Hills, which is celebrating its golden jubilee this year. Attending the Golden Jubilee celebration programme along with Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui, Deputy Speaker Timothy D Shira, and MLAs Rupert Momin and Pongseng Marak, Chief Minister told the gathering that the MDA government is committed to streamline the education sector in the State.

"Prior to the 2018 election, I pledged to the people of the State that given an opportunity, we will work toward prioritizing education. And as vowed, soon after we took over, we formalised the State Education Policy and have been working to fulfil the mandate to streamline the education sector", he said. He said that the Government has been spending over Rs 2000 crore annually for the education sector, and lamented that it was still not enough.

"One of the highest percentages of expenditure goes towards the education sector. This year itself we sanctioned Rs. 100 crore for improving the overall infrastructure in about 200 Government LP Schools," he said, while informing that all these LP Schools were lying in dilapidated condition.

He further informed that the Government is identifying 300 additional schools, which will be taken up for improvement and the funds are being mobilised for the same.

Talking on the issue of admission in higher classes and the increasing student population, he said, "In next five years, the student population will increase to about 4 lakh… and you will be surprised to know that we have only 45000 seats in colleges for our children."

He said that the Government is aware of this issue and is working to ensure that more seats and colleges are established across the State to ensure that children are not deprived of higher education.

He informed that the Government has recently supported nine colleges in the State under "People's College" scheme and have initiated programmes like Community College and Model College to further ensure that students get an opportunity for higher education.

"We must come up with more colleges," he added.

Lamenting on the lack of Science Streams in many higher secondary schools and colleges, he said, "Our children who want to study science, who are good at innovation, good at mathematics… sadly are not having any options… this is the challenge we face and we are looking at ways to move forward."

On the long pending demand for provincialisation of Mendipathar College, he said, "We will examine it. We will find the way on how we could create the right environment and right support for North Garo Hills in particular and Garo Hills region in general."

On the occasion, he also released the souvenir of 50 years journey of Mendipathar College. Speaking on the occasion, Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui said that despite challenges the Government has been working to streamline the education sector with the objective to address the concerns and welfare of teachers and students.

He also informed that the MDA Government has taken steps to regularise employment opportunities for the teachers and this year 1300 teachers were recruited in permanent posts.

He further informed that scholarships for students have been increased to Rs. 15000 depending on grades and categories as well as merit scholarship which was Rs. 60 per month has been increased to ? 600 per month.

"We are trying to improve the overall sector to ensure that the learning experience for our students is improved," he added.

Infrastructure assets of two schools inaugurated in North Garo Hills :Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma — in the presence of Minister, Education, Lahkmen Rymbui and Deputy Speaker, Meghalaya Legislative Assembly, Timothy D. Shira — inaugurated several infrastructure assets of Manikanj Secondary School and Damas Higher Secondary School in a function held at Mendipathar, North Garo Hills, on Wednesday.

MLA of Kharkutta Constituency, Rupert Momin and MLA of Bajengdoba Constituency, Pongseng Marak, were among the dignitaries present during the inauguration of the two schools funded by the ADB (Asian Development Bank) under the 'Supporting Human Development Project'.

Hence five classrooms have been added to Manikanj Secondary School while seven classrooms have been retrofitted to Damas Secondary School. A total of six new classrooms were also added to the school.

The infrastructure upgrade for both the schools includes a computer room and digital classrooms for advanced learning of students.

The Chief Minister also distributed cheques amounting to more than Rs 23 lakhs to 32 farmer-producer groups of North Garo Hills comprising more than 450 members under the Government's Farmers' Collectivisation for Upscaling of Production and Marketing Systems (FOCUS) at Mendipathar during the day.

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