Rollback will severely affect students: Jemino

Staff Reporter

Shillong, Sep 17: United Democratic Party (UDP) general secretary and former Nongthymmai legislator Jemino Mawthoh has opined that rolling back the decision to implement the National Education Policy (NEP) will have serious ramifications for the students’ community of the state.

“Reverting or roll back of decision will have serious ramifications for the student community. Let us put the interest of the students first,” Mawthoh said in a statement issued today.

This came in the wake of the demand made by the North Eastern Hill University Teachers’ Association (NEHUTA) and Meghalaya College Teachers’ Association (MCTA) to roll back decision to implement the NEP.

“With the State Education Commission in place, we can articulate the problems and concerns shared by all institutions and stakeholders and then move forward,” he said.

Stating that almost all colleges have gone ahead with the implementation of the NEP, Mawthoh said, “Principal’s council have agreed upon the implementation. No colleges have sought for deferment of implementation.”

“I share the concerns of other stakeholders and teachers organisation as they are genuine but we need to iron out the difficulties faced by institutions,” he said while adding “In a transition there will be problems, but we need to take up the challenges head on. We cannot afford to lag behind.”

Further, Mawthoh said that considering the dismal performance in the education sector, “we need to take this opportunity to capitalize from crisis into opportunity”.

He said the State has not been able to implement Choice Based Credit System at the undergraduate level since 2016 adding “And, therefore, we have less major papers as compared to other institutions in the country.”

“Students seeking admission in other states finds difficulty due to this and also difficulty in appearing for CUET and other competitive exams. Therefore, undergraduate needs reforms,” the former legislator said.

“If we have to build a house, we should not wait for the roads, electricity, water connection to come first. We build the house and simultaneously push for the road, water, electricity..this is always the case of Meghalaya,” he added.

SDRF recovers mortal remains of landslide victim

The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) recovered the body of the last victim of the landslide tragedy at Ryngngain in East Khasi Hills District on Sunday.

The body identified as that of late Krejunlang Khongjirem was trapped under the rubble of rocks and soil following the landslip incident which occurred last Friday.

The SDRF were pressed into action following a call from District police on Friday evening about the landslip incident at Ryngngain. On reaching the spot they were informed that 9 occupants who were sitting in the passenger vehicle had sustained minor injuries and were taken to Pynursla PHC.

However, another vehicle with 2 (two) occupants inside was knocked down off the road and had fallen into a deep gorge.

SDRF personnel were first able to recover the body of late Seiborlang Jaktung, the driver of the vehicle, in the afternoon of 15 April 2023 and with the help of local villagers they were able to bring back the body at around 2100 Hrs approximately and handed over the body to the police.

Two teams of SDRF personnel were deployed for the recovery operation at Ryngngain East Khasi Hills from the force headquarters at Mawdiangdiang.

The SDRF personnel worked in close cooperation with the local residents at Ryngngain to recover the bodies of the occupants of the second vehicle.

The recovery operation of the SDRF ended with the recovery of the second victim on Sunday.