Meghalaya halts admissions to streamline process, absorb additional 20,000 students

April 11, 2025

5856

Shillong, April 11: In response to this year’s historic Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) pass percentage in MBOSE, Meghalaya Education Minister Rakkam A Sangma on Thursday announced that the government has temporarily halted admissions to educational institutions in order to implement a structured admission process and ensure no student is left behind.

Speaking to reporters, Sangma said the move comes in light of the state recording an all-time high SSLC pass rate of 87.10%, a significant leap from last year’s 55.80% and the highest in the last 10 years. The sudden increase is expected to result in nearly 20,000 additional students seeking admission to higher secondary institutions.

While Shillong, which regularly records pass rates between 70–80%, is unlikely to face major issues, the government anticipates pressure on institutions in rural districts. To address this, Sangma said meetings are being held with heads of institutions and deputy commissioners, particularly in the Garo Hills region. “We are meeting with all heads of institutions. I will be meeting the deputy commissioners of the different districts in the Garo Hills region next week,” he informed.

Stating that the government is working on “modalities and formality on how to absorb all of them. We don’t want to see our students not getting admission”, he outlined government’s plan to ensure every child is able to take admission in higher secondary institutions. The minister informed that government is encouraging grant-in-aid institutions to increase intake capacity, introduce morning sessions in both government and aided schools, and upgrade few secondary schools to higher secondary schools. He mentioned that four more secondary schools will be upgraded to higher secondary schools – 3 in Khasi – Jaintia Hills and 1 in Garo Hills.

Informing that the admission process has temporarily been kept in abeyance, the minister said, “We are on the job and we have stopped the admission process in many institutions.” He added that the admissions will restart after the government knows details of how many students each institution and district can absorb.