SHILLONG:
The adviser to the state government’s Education department, Himalaya Shangpliang, has expressed concern over the high dropout rate.
“This is very alarming. We need to check the dropout rate. We want to find out the causes of children leaving their studies midway,” Shangpliang said on Wednesday.
He said that he has spoken to the Education minister Rakkam Sangma for doing an in-depth study to find out the causes and come up with solutions.
He said that the state’s dropout rate stands at 21 percent, the highest in the country.
Shangpliang informed that as per data available with the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE) in 2021-22, there are two stages when children drop out of school – from class I to class II and from Class X to Class XI.
“We want to find out why thousands of small children are discontinuing their education from class I to class II,” Shangpliang said while adding there is also a massive dropout rate from class X to class XI.
He said that the number of dropouts from class X to class XI in 2021-22 was 20, 000.
According to him, the question now arises as to where these children are and what are they doing, and how many among them are employed.
“If we do not check the dropout rate it will be a burden on our society and the unemployment rate will increase,” he said.
He said that ways and means should be found to streamline the education system.
Shangpliang also said that the enrollment rate fluctuates from year to year.
He said that every child of the state should have the opportunity to attend school and get educated.
According to him, the enrollment gross rate in the elementary level is only 155.32 per cent, in the secondary level it is 85 per cent and in the higher secondary level it drops further to 45.92 per cent.
“These indicators point to something wrong in the system itself,” he said.
He also said that the government was trying to encourage secondary schools to upgrade to higher secondary level.
According to him, at present there are 1462 secondary schools and 386 higher secondary schools.
“You can well imagine our children passing class X are finding difficulty in getting admissions to class XI especially in the rural areas where there are no higher secondary schools and they have to come to the city,” he said.
Shangpliang said that it is for this reason more higher secondary schools should be set up in the rural areas.
He also informed that in the upper primary level there are around 3500 schools but more should be set up.
On the issue of the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, Shangpliang said that most of the states have implemented it but the state is not yet ready.
“From discussion with the education minister and officials of the department we understand that we need to adopt the policy in the state, but by customising it to suit Meghalaya,” he added.
In this connection, he informed that soon a committee will be notified which will work towards redrafting the Meghalaya Education Policy and insert certain relevant portions of the NEP into the state policy.
He said that in the new policy, children who do not want to continue with formal education they should take up vocational courses which will make them gainfully employed.
On the issue of teachers not getting their salaries on time, Shangpliang said that the Centre was not releasing the funds as per the budget of the state government.
According to him, the state’s budget is around Rs 700 crore but the Centre gave only around Rs 350 crore and a major chunk is spent on salaries of the teachers.
Shanpliang also informed that interview for candidates who have passed their Meghalaya Teachers Eligibility Test (MTET) written examination, will be held soon.
He said that 1000 teachers will be appointed on a contractual basis who will be sent to schools without teachers.
Shangpliang urged the teaching community to work with responsibility while admitting that many sublet their jobs to other individuals to teach the students while they themselves are engaged in other activities.