Meghalaya govt to improve infrastructure of 200 schools in the state

Speaking to media persons on Wednesday, the Minister informed that the recent Performance Grading Index (PGI) report by the centre has ranked Meghalaya at the bottom of the ranking table, which is an eye-opener for the education department to gauge loopholes plaguing the sector.

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SHILLONG:

After a report from the centre ranked the state very low in terms of school education, Meghalaya Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui has said that the infrastructure of 200 schools in the state will be upgraded this year with a budgetary allocation of Rs 100 crore.

Speaking to media persons on Wednesday, the Minister informed that the recent Performance Grading Index (PGI) report by the centre has ranked Meghalaya at the bottom of the ranking table, which is an eye-opener for the education department to gauge loopholes plaguing the sector.

The state scored 649 points out of 1000 which is a low score when compared to other states.

The score which was based on 70 parameters to assess the standard of education ranked Meghalaya low in the ranking table because of infrastructure and other facilities.

Rymbui said that the department will look into all the infrastructural aspects and work towards improving the schools across the state in the future. He maintained that despite the poor ranking, the education sector has improved in the past few years,

“Meghalaya has improved every year. In 2017-18, the score was 584, and in 2018-19 the score has increased to 610. In 2019-20 the score is 649. There have been improvements in the last three years and we will improve more. We know the deficiency,” he said.

The Minister reiterated that there have to be improvements across all lines including infrastructure and facilities, quality of teachers and other things.

The Minister further informed that additional classrooms in over 200 primary schools have been completed in the last three years.

Trained Teachers

On the question of having trained teachers in schools, Rymbui informed that under NISHTHA, 19,306  teachers were trained in 2020-21, adding that the government will expand Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and computer-aided learning in 50 plus government schools this year. 

He also said that records of 27,342 teachers have been digitised with a unique teacher ID, and 4,500 teachers from government and government-aided schools have been trained under the ADB programme.

The Minister concluded by saying that in addition to the infrastructure and development issue, there are management issues, issues related to the salary among others, which also play a pivotal role in improving the overall standards of education.

(Edited by Shankar Kumar Turha)

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