New Delhi, May 25 (IANS) Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma on Monday presented a comprehensive roadmap to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan aimed at improving the state’s Performance Grading Index (PGI), while admitting that Meghalaya has remained at the bottom of the rankings for the last three years.

During the meeting in Delhi, Sangma said the Education Department had identified critical gaps in learning outcomes and initiated structural reforms to address long-standing systemic issues affecting the sector.

The Chief Minister pointed out that Meghalaya’s unusually high number of schools has resulted in fragmented utilisation of resources, multiple layers of grant-in-aid mechanisms, and administrative complexities that have persisted for decades.

He noted that despite a population of around 30 lakh, Meghalaya has nearly 14,600 schools, the highest among the Northeastern states, excluding Assam, surpassing states such as Manipur, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, and Tripura.

Sangma said the government has now shifted its focus to improving the quality of education and learning outcomes through a series of major interventions, including consolidating schools and optimising infrastructure to improve student-teacher ratios and access to laboratories and digital facilities.

He also informed the Union Minister that the state is streamlining multiple grant-in-aid systems to reduce administrative burdens and allow greater focus on academic outcomes.

Highlighting a key reform, the Chief Minister said Meghalaya has introduced a unified pay structure, including structured pay for SSA teachers, aimed at ensuring parity, improving morale, and strengthening accountability among teachers.

Sangma also underlined the importance of teacher training and professional development programmes, stating that DIKSHA-enabled training modules and self-paced learning programmes are equipping teachers with modern pedagogical tools.

Among other reforms highlighted were the implementation of the National Education Policy’s three-language formula, compulsory teaching of Khasi and Garo, play-based learning, contextualised textbooks, bag-less days at the foundational stage, and removal of summative assessments till Class 2.

On the rationalisation of lower primary schools, he said 3,198 schools out of 14,582 have already been merged or deleted to optimise resource utilisation.

The Chief Minister also briefed Pradhan on the newly launched “CM LEAD Fellowship”, under which 12 fellows will be deployed across the state’s 12 districts to strengthen planning, coordination, and monitoring of education reforms.

He further announced the establishment of the Meghalaya Teachers Training Academy (MTTA), which will oversee teacher education under Samagra Shiksha and enhance teachers’ continuous professional development hours.

“With a clear roadmap and strong political will, Meghalaya is poised to overcome its challenges and significantly improve its PGI performance in the coming years,” Sangma said, reiterating the government’s commitment to ensuring quality education for every child in the state.

–IANS

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