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.

Councils still against inclusions in proposed amendment to 6th Schedule

The three autonomous district councils – KHADC, JHADC and GHADC – has reiterated their strong opposition against the inclusion of ‘unrepresented tribe’ and ‘village council’ in the proposed amendment to the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution.

After a joint meeting held here, KHADC chief Titosstarwell Chyne told reporters that the matter was discussed by the three ADCs after the Centre had yet again sought for their views.

“We are totally against implementation of the unrepresented tribe and the state government is also in the same line with us. Regarding the village council issue, we had maintained that instead of this, we propose village development council,” Chyne said.

He said that the two issues have been pending as they needed elaborate discussion.

“We have discussed this matter seriously. We have highlighted to our friends from Jaintia Hills and Garo Hills that in KHADC, we have passed the Village Development Council Bill and we would also like to that even in these two ADCs, they also should pass this Bill so that implementation of village council will not be applicable as we have our own traditional institutions,” Chyne said while adding that “because according to this proposed amendment, the implementation of the village council in the state will dilute the powers and functions of our traditional institutions. We will not like to see our traditional institutions will go away, we would like to see them to remain with our traditional practice that is why we have decided this matter will be discussed in the respective councils soon.”

When asked, the KHADC chief said, “These are the two issues which the central government has written to the state government to look into these issue.”

“Once we clear these two issues, then I think the central government also will be willing to pass this amendment at the earliest possible. Once we give green signal from here I think the Centre will take a call,” he added.

Regarding the number of seats, Chyne said, “We (three ADCs) have already agreed that it should not exceed 40 seats. That we have agreed.”

Further, the three autonomous district councils have also unanimously oppose the implementation of the Swamitva Scheme by the Centre.

“We totally oppose the implementation of this scheme in the state as our land tenure system is totally different from other states in the country. We have our traditional practices, we have our own land holding system in our state so that is why implementation of this scheme in the state is not acceptable,” Chyne said.

Meanwhile, the KHADC chief also informed that they demanded the state government to transfer back the subject relating to issuing of Scheduled Tribe certificate to all the three ADCs as it was done in the past.

“Issuing of PRCs by respective DCs was also discussed. The district administration should first get the confirmation from the ADCs before issuing any PRCs,” he stated.

ADCs want details of their share from royalty, taxes

The three autonomous district councils have asked the state government to provide the actual calculation of their respective shares from royalty on minor and major minerals and from the motor vehicle taxes.

Informing this after a joint meeting today, KHADC chief Titosstarwell Chyne told reporters that the issue relating to the financial matters to the three ADCs including GHADC and JHADC was discussed.

“We urge the state government that we should at least get the actual calculation regarding this matter,” Chyne said.

“We used to get share from the state government like minor and major mineral share and motor vehicle tax share from the state government. But unfortunately all these years, we never get a correct calculation how much our share used to be, we always got lump sum amount of share,” he added.

Urging the state government to also get more funds for the 3 ADCs, Chyne said, “We urge the state government to get more funds for all the three ADCs especially like the plan scheme, other financial assistance.”

Further, the KHADC chief said that they have also discussed about the delay in the release of the 15th Finance Commission Award from the Centre government and requested the need to release the funds in time.

“(We) urge the government to release our funds in time because delaying in the release of funds lead to delay in the implementation of the scheme. The central government use to give us pressure to submit the utilization certificates (UCs) but we cannot submit our UCs in time because we too did not get the funds in time,” he said.

According to him, the three ADCs are yet to get funds relating to Untied scheme for 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 till now.

“Therefore, we would like to jointly to urge the state government to see these kinds of delay in the implementation of the schemes should not take place,” he added.

ADCs say ‘NO’ to implementation of Uniform Civil Code

The three Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) have unanimously decided to jointly pass a resolution to oppose the Centre’s move to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the state.

The decision was taken at a joint meeting of the chief executive members (CEMs) of the three Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC), Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council (JHADC) and Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) – held in Shillong here today.

“We have unanimously decided that we will jointly pass a resolution that implementation of UCC in the Sixth Schedule area will be totally opposed (by us) and we also pass a resolution in our respective councils soon regarding this matter,” KHADC chief Titosstarwell Chyne told reporters after the meeting.

The UCC is a proposal to formulate and implement personal laws of citizens which apply on all citizens equally.

He said that the meeting had discussed at length the intention of the central government to introduce the UCC Bill in the country while adding that “we feel that UCC will directly had an impact on the powers and functions of the ADCs especially with our customs, our traditional practices, community as a whole.”

When asked if a special session will be convened in this regard, Chyne said hopefully a special session will be called by next month as they would like to speed up this matter.

“There are so many problems as I have said that it (UCC) will affect our traditional customs like marriage system. Once this UCC is implemented, we will have a uniform marriage system but here in our custom we have different, so religious and traditional custom will be affected. As Scheduled Tribe, we feel implementation of this UCC will not be acceptable in the state,” he said.

Further, the KHADC chief said that the state government will also have to go in the same line once a resolution is passed by the three ADCs as was done in the case of the Citizenship Amendment Act.

“…the CAA has been exempted in the Scheduled area I think the UCC should also be exempted from the Sixth Schedule. Therefore, we are demanding for exemption of the UCC from the Sixth Schedule area,” he further maintained.

AIM against gambling in melas

The Awakening Indian Movement (AIM) has sought the intervention of the deputy commissioner of East Khasi Hills district to ensure a blanket ban on gambling at melas being organized by different agencies.

Speaking to media persons, chairman of AIM Bansharai Marbaniang said that many people from other part of the country come to Meghalaya to host various kinds of melas, however these melas have games that encourage gambling with money which is detrimental and have a negative impact on the welfare of the people.

Marbaniang alleged that melas throughout the country are being held in order to provide entertainment to all citizens where they can experience happiness especially for children, students, and youth but at present melas in Meghalaya are being held with gambling which have detrimental and a negative impact on the welfare of the people.

“During our visit to the mela held at the Parking Lot outside Polo Ground in Shillong, the mela hosted various gambling activities with money and young people and students in uniform participated in various gambling games” said Marbaniang.

Marbaniang said that AIM is not against organizing melas in the state, however it stands against the act of gambling that is being held at the venues hence the AIM sought the intervention into this matter.

Teachers unhappy with non-release of dues

The All Meghalaya Fourth Teachers Association Garo Hills Unit (AM4thTA GHU) has expressed unhappiness due to the non-release of their three–month salary.

The association said that the 4th teachers are yet to receive their salary for January to March 2023 and are facing lots of problems with their daily wages even going to school.

The association in its memorandum to Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma and Education Minister Rakkam Sangma and also to the DSEL officers too on March 17 had demanded regularization of 1521 fourth teachers services, equal salary at par with Adhoc Upper Primary School teachers and to ensure regular disbursement of salary to teachers respective accounts and 5 per cent annual increment for Meghalaya 4th Teachers.

“If the MDA 2.0 government neglects the teachers’ salary then how will the teachers go to school with an empty stomach and empty pockets as they are without salary for three months? Therefore, the association requested the chief minister and education minister to look into the matter and ensure speedy release of our 3-month salary,” the president of the association Tengrang K Sangma said.