Meghalaya seeks NCTE exemption to enhance teacher training

CORRESPONDENT

SHILLONG: Meghalaya's Education Minister, Rakkam A. Sangma, stated that the state government has written to the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) to seek exemptions from certain criteria to increase the intake capacity for B.Ed. and D. El. Ed courses.

"We have written to NCTE to exempt some criteria so that we can intake more B.Ed. courses, be it D.El.Ed. or DIET in the B.Ed. college," said Sangma. He highlighted that Meghalaya currently has only 200 vacancies for the D. El. Ed training program and a severe shortage of training schools. "However, we are continuously giving orientation short-term training, but that is not recognisable to NCTE," he added.

Addressing concerns over the state's 18,000 untrained teachers, Sangma acknowledged the challenge of NCTE certification. "Look, practically they are trained. Many of the teachers who teach the syllabus are practically trained-a six-month course, a first three-month course-but technically, they are not trained because those training are to be certified by the NCTE," he explained.

The minister also spoke about the initiatives taken to improve education quality in Meghalaya. "Science and mathematics teachers of the state are getting training in IIT Guwahati," he noted, adding that such training programs include residential programs and special training camps.

Regarding Meghalaya's standing in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), Sangma admitted, "Look, I don't know much about the structural criteria of the NIRF ranking, but as a state government, we are doing all our efforts to give quality education at all levels-from primary to higher education." He pointed out that Meghalaya has established its first state university and has several private and central universities contributing to education development.

On infrastructure, he acknowledged that while some reports indicate an excess of schools at the primary and upper primary levels, the government is taking corrective measures. "In the last five-six years, under the dynamic leadership of the Chief Minister, we have constructed many new government schools, renovated more than 2,000 schools, and built many government secondary and higher secondary schools, as well as college buildings," Sangma said.

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