Meghalaya has 18900 untrained elementary teachers

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaJuly 4, 2023

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma urged the Central Govt for one-time amnesty programme for conducting Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) and Diploma in Elementary Education Programme for clearing huge backlog of untrained teachers in Meghalaya.

In a letter to Union Education Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, Sangma informed Meghalaya has only 5 (five) College of Teacher Education (CTE) with an intake capacity of only 350 seats per academic year against a backlog of 5548 Secondary and 2043 Higher Secondary untrained teachers. He also pointed out that the state evidently has a very low capacity for carrying out B.Ed courses, which is presently a minimum pre service professional qualification for Secondary and Higher Secondary teachers.

Informing on Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed) programme, the Chief Minister said that it is a specifically designed package for in-service untrained teachers working in primary/ upper primary schools of different states of the country. He also apprised that 34,730 Elementary Teachers of Meghalaya attended the Off-line course successfully during the year 2013 to 2019.

Sangma informed Meghalaya has huge backlog of 18900 untrained Elementary Teachers. He also said Meghalaya 7 (seven) DIETs and 1 (one) Teacher Training Centre with intake of 550 trainees per academic session, thereby posing a huge challenge to bridge this gap.

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“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 the IGNOU- Programmes – Distance – Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) and for the Elementary in-service teachers of Meghalaya under the NIOS – Programme – Distance Mode – Diploma in Elementary Education Programme as a special case,” the Chief Minister said in the letter.

Sangma informed the Meghalaya Government is preparing to implement the NEP in its entirety and considering that the State is not equipped with adequate infrastructure & other logistic support. He also said that it will require additional fund for appointment of teachers, construction of additional classroom, development of Pedagogy Resource Training, ECCE development, School complexes, etc. for which the assistance of the Central Government is sought for.

The Chief Minister informed the total Approved Budget Estimates Outlay w.e.f.2018 -2023 is Rs.3407.47 Crore, whereas the Actual Releases is Rs.2722.22 Crore and the Expenditure incurred during 2018-2023 is Rs 2377.33 Crore.

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He also said a balance of Rs 685 Crore against the estimated budget is realized through the last 5 years. He claimed there is a shortfall of Annual Work Plan & Budget-PAB estimates against actual release which is insufficient to meet the aspiration of the State in fulfilling the NEP 2020 and other quality aspects such as spillover, timely release of teachers’ salary, while in provincialization of teachers’ post is still ongoing the support of the Central Government is still required.

“My earnest request to your good office to please re-consider the Funding Pattern and release under SSA for allowing the State to comply with the NEP-2020 aims and objectives,” the letter said.