Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Friday outlined a two-pronged push to strengthen the State’s education ecosystem, announcing the rollout of a revised pay structure for Adhoc and SSA teachers from May 1 while unveiling financial support for civil services aspirants who clear the preliminary stage of the UPSC examination. The measures, positioned as part of a broader reform agenda, aim to address systemic gaps in school education and improve the State’s performance in national competitive examinations.
Highlighting a gradual but visible shift in outcomes, the Chief Minister pointed to the improvement in pass percentages and emphasised sustained institutional reform, community participation, and targeted interventions as key to building a robust education system in the State.
“Just few months back we have taken a decision to reform the Adhoc and the SSA teachers also, and that has taken impact now. On the 1st May, the Adhoc and the SSA Teachers will be receiving their first revised pay structure that is there. That will be great moment for the education system and I hope that will lead to further improvement of education system,” Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said.
“We have to see that, we work on the system and always be there, that they’ll be different issue that will come up and Civil Service clearance at the UPSC level is definitely one area, which we are very, very concerned about and you like to see most of the students passed. So, in fact, I’m starting a program where I am going to be supporting financially the students who have clear the prelims, we will be giving financial support to them from the government site,” the CM said.
“At the same time, where the different districts and different organizations, to which we are giving coaching and training and financial support. And we have started a program online many many years back which of course had to be stopped because of the covid but we are slowly structuring it, I hope that we will be able to see more impact,” he added.
“Just recently in Garo Hills also, we had the religious organizations also have started this training process and government is helping them also, so on and so forth I think society is a whole and state as a whole has to work Unitedly to make this happen,” The Chief Minister told Media persons.
“For Garo Hills we are doing it (felicitation of SSLC toppers) on 18th of this month. I would have loved to do both together but logically it is very challenging for the students to come all the way here. So we are having a programme in Garo Hills for Western Region on 185h of this month. We do wish to continue this and make this an annual event as I said it’s a small but the meaningful way to motivate students. In years to come we will look at all aspects of education and improve the overall quality, improve the overall understanding and ensure that students are able to also graps the concepts,” he added.
“So, things take time, education is a very sticky subject in the sense that process is trying to change. But I hope that this change that we started in this way, will have that positive impact and momentum and we hope that we will be able to ultimately reach our goals ensure that we have a very robust education system,” Sangma said.
“We feel very happy and very satisfied to see that today we are seeing 86% pass where there was a time when used to have just 50 percent pass. Of course, we desire to see more and we are giving your option where the students who does not make it from the first try will get a second options, so I hope that the past percentage will go up, but this is just one of the steps that we are seeing for the reformation of education system as a whole,” he added.
