Sangma says “a good building is a beginning, not the finish”
Rimrangpara, Oct 22: Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma on Thursday inaugurated the renovated building of Rimrangpara Higher Secondary School, saying education remains the government’s highest priority even as significant gaps persist in rural schools. MLAs Mehtab Chandee A. Sangma (Gambegre) and Sengchim Sangma (Chokpot) were present.
The school’s students and teachers had for a long time worked out of a building badly in need of repair, the Chief Minister said. The renovation was funded through the Chief Minister’s Special Development Fund (CMSDF), with Rs 14 lakh sanctioned.
“The fund exists for exactly this purpose: to respond quickly when a community tells us what it needs most,” he said. He thanked the School Managing Committee, teachers, church and community for pushing for the project, and the MLA for following it up.
“Good things in a village happen when people keep asking and keep working together,” he added.
Gambegre MLA Mehtab Chandee A. Sangma said she saw the school’s condition during her bye-election campaign, when people and the managing committee asked her to take up the issue. The school had leaking roofs, which made life difficult for children. Though it is not a government school, the Chief Minister agreed immediately to fund it, she said, thanking him for the CMSDF sanction.
Citing the state’s annual outlay of Rs 20,000 crore on various interventions, the chief minister said Rs 4,000 crore goes to education alone. He acknowledged the challenges the government faces: different categories of schools, infrastructure problems, teachers’ salary concerns, dilapidated buildings and poor SSLC results in the past.
“In the past over 75 percent children failed their SSLC exam in Garo Hills region,” he said, adding that the NPP-led government has worked to improve the situation over the last eight years.
He cited the following recent figures:
- SSLC: 86.84 percent of students passed this year.
- Higher Secondary: Pass percentage was above 83 percent in Science, Arts and Commerce alike.
- Performance Grading Index: Meghalaya’s score for school education rose from 448 in 2024 to 525.71 in 2026.
Under Mission Education, the goal is for every government school in the state to reach a defined minimum standard of classrooms, facilities and basic amenities. More than 2,000 schools have been upgraded so far, and over 80 new school buildings were inaugurated in a single day on September 23, the Chief Minister said.
“No child learns well in a classroom where roof leaks or there is nowhere to sit,” he said.
The government is also moving beyond buildings. Through CM IMPACT, students can use an online tutoring platform offering chapter-wise lessons, a chatbot to answer questions and mock tests. An offline version is being developed for areas with weak network coverage.
The government is directly repairing all government primary and upper primary schools, while support for adhoc, deficit and other categories of schools is being extended through CMSDF, CSR and MLA funds.
The chief minister was candid about what remains undone. Many rural schools still lack reliable electricity, safe drinking water, internet, proper libraries or science laboratories, and many need more teachers, he said.
Earlier this year he asked the Education Department to prepare a school-by-school roadmap with timelines and funding requirements. “It will take time. I would rather tell you that plainly than promise everything at once. What I can promise is that we will keep at it,” he said.
Pointing to the structure of the system, the Chief Minister said the state has 9,000 government LP schools, 3,000 upper primary, 1,700 secondary and 500 higher secondary schools, and 80 colleges. This ratio, he said, leaves many students with nowhere to seek admission even if they wish to continue studying.
In the last eight years, the government has:
- Opened 23 new People’s Colleges.
- Constructed new college buildings for Baghmara and Williamnagar.
- Started a new college in Mahendraganj.
- Established a new State University and an engineering college in Shillong, among other initiatives.
- Put in place a structured pay framework for over 23,000 adhoc and SSA teachers, with close to Rs 800 crore earmarked for salaries.
- Decided to support 700 schools with financial aid through CM IMPACT Plus.
On Mehtab Chandee’s request for a gallery at the Rimrangpara School playground, the Chief Minister assured that work would begin in phases.
The MLA urged teachers to provide a quality learning atmosphere and parents and students to cooperate. She also asked the Chief Minister to support more higher secondary schools in rural Garo Hills, saying their absence forces students to drop out after Class X.
