SHILLONG, May 27: The Meghalaya government is aiming to rationalise around 600 schools across the state in the first phase of a large-scale restructuring plan, focusing on overlapping government and SSA institutions, Education Commissioner and Secretary Vijay Kumar Mantri said on Tuesday.
Speaking to reporters, Mantri explained that several SSA schools are located adjacent to government schools, which contradicts the principle of having a single government institution in a locality. “SSA is in principle a government school, and you cannot have two government schools next to each other,” he said, adding that rationalisation will help avoid duplication and improve efficiency in resource allocation.
According to Mantri, the state currently has 55,000 teachers, of whom only 7,000 are government-appointed while the remaining 48,000 are in privately managed schools but receive government aid. Of the ₹2,400 crore education budget, nearly ₹2,000 crore is spent on school teachers’ salaries, while colleges receive an additional ₹300 crore. “There is very little left for infrastructure development,” he noted.
Poor infrastructure, especially in the face of Meghalaya’s heavy rainfall, remains a pressing challenge. “Continuous maintenance is a big issue,” Mantri admitted, pointing out that many schools that haven’t received government support are facing serious structural issues.
To address this, the state has initiated infrastructure upgrades under two major schemes: the Asian Development Bank-funded project, covering 65 schools, and Mission Education, which is now in its third phase. The upgrades include classroom construction and maintenance improvements, being rolled out in phases depending on budget availability.
Mantri also emphasised the need to rationalise teacher deployment. “We have villages with five schools and others with almost none. In some places, you have two teachers and just three or four students. That’s not a good utilisation of our resources,” he said. The government has begun merging SSA and government schools in close proximity, along with their respective teachers and students, to address skewed student-teacher ratios.
The rationalisation process will also include privately managed deficit schools, aiming for long-term sustainability and more targeted investments. “If we can optimise staffing, the salary burden will reduce, allowing us to invest more in infrastructure and learning outcomes,” Mantri said.
