Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma on Monday said that the State Government has embarked upon itself the responsibility to upscale educational facilities from elementary level.
“In the current financial year, we will renovate at least 200 LP schools in the State. For each LP schools we have allocated Rs. 40 lakh for the renovation. In a phase wise manner, we will cover around 800 schools in the next three years,” Sangma said at the inauguration of the newly constructed building of Garobadha Secondary School and Rangsakona Higher Secondary School in South West Garo Hills district.
Both the new buildings were funded by Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) “Supporting Human Capital Development in Meghalaya” at an amount of Rs. 1.85 crore for Rangsakona School, while Rs 3.09 crore for Garobadha School.
Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui and senior opposition Congress legislator Zenith Sangma and ruling National People’s Party (NPP) legislator Ferlin Sangma, were also present on the occasion.
The state of the art equipped schools is part of 100 million US dollar (INR 650 cr) projects for the State, wherein 117 new school buildings have been created in the 11 districts.
The Chief Minister thanked the Education Department and the ADB for taking up the ‘wonderful’ project in the State.
Underscoring on the importance of education, Sangma said, “Without education, no State or country can prosper. Education is the most important pillar for any economy, country or society… and our government have taken education as a priority to ensure that our youth get adequate facilities.”
Lamenting on the lack of poor educational infrastructure facilities in the State, the Chief Minister lauded the effort of Education Minister and the department for conceptualizing a project to upscale educational infrastructure in the State.
Informing that there were more than 2000 government LP schools in the State which require urgent attention, he said, “Due to financial crisis over the years, the LP schools were never renovated or extended. However, our government has decided to accord required attention to such schools, so that we can create an enabling environment for the children”.
The Chief Minister also informed the gathering that an amount of Rs. 12 crore each has been sanctioned for construction of new building for Williamnagar Government College and Captain Williamson Sangma Memorial College in Baghmara.
Urging the parents to pay attention for the interest of the students, Sangma said, “For more than 18 hours, the children are with their parents, so it is important that parents give the required attention to the children. Parents should monitor their children, whether they are doing their homework or are attending their classes. We have to work together to reverse the education scenario of our State. Role of teachers, parents and students are equally important.”
Talking on the poor pass percentage in South West Garo Hills, Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui said, “Out of 100, 74 students failed in South West Garo Hills.
The question is why, we have formed a committee to study the reason for poor pass percentage and have diagnosed the matter. We are currently devising a strategy to fix the problem. The problems cannot be fixed only by the Government, we have to work together to overcome this issue and improve the education in this part of the State”.
