Shillong, July 17: Education Minister Rakkam A Sangma on Tuesday said the state government is taking all measures to address the problem of school dropout by improving the standards of education in the state.

“Chief Minister reviewed the education scenario in the state last week and we are taking all measures to lift up the education standards in the state,” Sangma told reporters.

As per the Unified Digital Information on School Education (UDISE) plus data 2021-22, Meghalaya recorded the highest dropout rate in all levels with 9.8% at the Lower Primary level, 9.4% at the upper primary Level, and the secondary level 21.7%, which is way higher than the national average of 1.5%, 3.0% and 12.60%, respectively.

“While the overall dropout picture is grim, the situation is far worse in some districts with alarming rates of dropout. The Secondary school level drop-out rate of 27.6% is particularly critical in 6 districts, with the average being more than 30%,” it says.

Taking note of the report, Sangma said that the state government has taken lots of initiatives and interventions in terms of changing the school textbooks, construction and renovation of school buildings across the state among other measures.

“We are also taking measures to improve the PGI ranking and different measures we are planning to take to bring down the dropout rate in the state,” he added.

Stating that the dropout rate is quite high in all districts of Garo Hills region, the education minister said that the SSLC pass percentage was at 37% in the last five years.

“It is alarming and very concerning for us. Now, we have identified 2-3 districts, which are worse performing districts and therefore we are taking all measures to improve their performances,” he stated.

Further, Sangma informed that the government has also directed the deputy commissioners to reach out to specific schools with “zero performance”

“Departmentally, we are assessing and we are taking reports and we have even instructed deputy commissioners to reach out and speak and meet specific schools, because some schools with consecutively zero performance. Some of the schools are performing well in rural areas but some are with zero performance,” he said.

“We are reaching to specific schools which otherwise are not doing well, maybe teachers, maybe the managing committee is the reason, we are finding out – we are not leaving no stone unturned to understand the issues. We are planning to introduce certain plans and programs specifically because in the next 20 years, we want to see a different Meghalaya specially in the education sector,” he added.

Meanwhile, the education minister also informed that a meeting was recently held with the officials of the Meghalaya Board of School Education (MBOSE) for introduction of textbooks with QR Code.

“We want to introduce textbooks having the QR Code where every topic will be taught through video. If students cannot learn properly in the classes, they go back home and instead of going for tuition at home they will listen, they will learn from video teaching of every topic.”

“We will be having 10-15 years solved question papers of MBOSE, ICSE, CBSE, JEE NEET – so in that way, it will be helping out our students,” he stated.

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