Meghalaya CM seek’s Centre’s nod for one-time teachers’ training programme

Shillong: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Tuesday sought the Education Ministry’s nod to allow one-time training for the huge number of untrained elementary school teachers.

According to the chief minister, the northeastern state has a huge backlog of untrained teachers due to limited institutional facilities.

A total of 34,730 elementary school teachers attended off-line course from 2013 to 2019 and the state still has a huge backlog of 18,900 untrained elementary school teachers, Sangma said.

"I request you to kindly allow the state government to clear the backlog as a one-time amnesty programme for the Secondary, Higher Secondary in-service teachers of Meghalaya under IGNOU- programmes," Sangma said in a letter to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) is the national resource centre for open and distance learning.

The problem, he said, was compounded as there are only seven District Institutes of Education & Training (DIET) and one Teacher Training Centre with an intake of 550 trainees per academic session.

"The state has five College Teacher Education (CTE) institutions with an intake capacity of only 350 seats per academic year against a backlog of 5,548 Secondary and 2,043 Higher Secondary untrained teachers," he added.

The B.Ed course is the minimum pre-service professional qualification required for the recruitment of teachers for Secondary and Higher Secondary levels.

He also sought the Centre's fund for appointment of teachers, construction of additional classrooms, complexes besides development of Pedagogy Resource Training.

On the implementation of the Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan scheme, the chief minister sought the Centre's nod to continue with the funding and allow the state to comply with the NEP-2020.

While the total budget outlay for the past 5 years was Rs 3407.47 crore, the actual releases and expenditure incurred are insufficient to meet the requirements of NEP 2020 and other quality aspects.

The remaining balance of Rs 685 crore is affecting the state's aspiration to fulfil the NEP 2020 and other quality aspects such as spillover, timely release of teachers' salary, he added.

Meanwhile, the chief minister also reminded the Union Education Minister to issue directions to the CEUT authorities to conduct a special CUET examination for students from this hill state who have missed the exams due to allotment of examination centres outside the state.

The chief minister had last month written to Pradhan to issue directions to the National Testing Agency to make alternative arrangements for students affected by the allotment of CUET testing centres outside the state.

Many students from Meghalaya have lodged a complaint with the state government when they missed this year's CUET examination due to the allotment of exam centres in far off places like Ranchi, and Kolkata.

The chief minister has also sought the Ministry's nod to set up CUET examination centres in all districts having adequate infrastructure and testing facilities.

"We have suggested that the CUET centres be set up in Shillong, Tura, Jowai, Nongstoin and Williamnagar towns which are expected to cover the other adjoining districts," the Chief Minister's office stated.

Sangma also highlighted the issues faced by Teacher Training Institutions in the state for uploading of documents as required and mandated by NCTE due to the glitches in the NCTE website itself.