Shillong, Nov 05: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma Wednesday inaugurated the new Higher Secondary Section and laid the foundation stone for the school auditorium of Presbyterian Higher Secondary School, Shillong, as the institution celebrated 126 years of service.
Thanking God Almighty for 126 years of blessings, the Chief Minister said the school has completed its journey through ups and downs only because of divine blessing, and today it embarks on a new journey.
“Education is one of the most powerful tools to bring change in society. For us as Government, we have always believed education has to be prioritised. The reason is simple – these young children here. The future of our State and future of our country. I do not think of any greater investment than to invest in education and schooling,” he said. The Chief Minister recalled a time when 50% of students failed SSLC – Class 10 Matric exams.
“That means their dreams were over even before they started to dream. Life came to a halt even before it started. One can imagine pain that they and their parents and family must have gone through,” he said. He said that drop out rate after Class 10 was high because there were not enough schools to give them admission.
“We have 9,000 LP schools in our State. And Higher Secondary Schools, we have only 500. From 9,000, students who pass out have to go into these 500 schools. And those who pass out from these 500 schools, they go into 80 colleges. Today we are across 100 colleges, but scenario is still very, very challenging. So we had a large number of dropouts. Obviously we need to create more Higher Secondary Schools. We need to create more colleges. These things don’t happen in a single term. It takes time,” he said.
He also spoke about teachers’ unrest. Every year hundreds and thousands of ad-hoc and SSA teachers were on streets demanding revision and increased salary, and rightly so.
“Government was spending total of Rs. 1,200 crore every year just on salaries of grant-in-aid schools and colleges. Even a 10% increase means Rs. 120 crore impact. A 20% increase leads to about Rs. 300 plus crore. Challenge was huge. But we realised teachers need to be given respect and understanding. We need to work together to come to a meeting point. Let’s talk, let us discuss, let us move on,” he said.
The Chief Minister said in last eight years, education sector has transformed.
“We had 50% pass percentage in SSLC five years back. Today, because of CM IMPACT programme we started, we are touching 90% plus. Yes, quality of education matters, understanding of subject matters. We need to work on all of this. But it pains my heart to see a child’s dream is crushed even before child is able to start to dream. We need to support our students so they are able to increase pass percentage,” he said.
He informed Government spends close to Rs. 4,000 crore every year on education, because education is important. But money alone is not measure. “At the end of day, quality of education is what we need to strive for. And that will only come through one thought process – keep the student at the centre of all our decision making,” he said.
He said Finance Department is driven by cost, politicians sometimes by jobs in constituency, Education Department sometimes by temporary solution. “Most of us forget about child. We never ask – Is this correct for the child? Is this correct and good for a student? If we can start to make decisions based on what is good for child, things will start to change.”He urged teachers and Managing Committee to put students first and give personal attention to every child.
“There are two ways to work. One way is to look at one programme and implement it for all students – whether student is learning or not, that is not your concern, you finish course. The other way is to create programmes for every student. You can be educating a whole class, or you could be educating and shaping every student. Second option is what we need to focus on. Realising every child is different – his or her own qualities, capacity, knowledge, speed – and try to give that personal touch,” he said.
He announced Government is working out a mechanism to support schools that are currently not getting any financial support.
“We have close to 700 plus Secondary and Higher Secondary schools for whom we are not able to give any financial support. We are working on a plan where we are able to support existing schools which we are supporting, and a plan to support schools which we are not supporting at all. In politics, I have learned it is better to take half a step, then take one step up, and then take half step back. Because once you take one step forward, you cannot take it back. We want to do our calculations well. We want to ensure we are fair to everyone, and we will ensure we cover as much as possible, so that many new schools get support,” he said.
