''We would like to bring back that glory to our state by improving the education sector,'' he said while declaring the six-month-long silver jubilee celebrations of the Sngap Syiem College at Mawkyrwat in the state's West Khasi Hills district.
Dr Sangma said education had made Meghalaya proud and renowned all over the country and in the Northeast in particular.
Stressing on the need for improving and providing quality education in the state, the Chief Minister said, ''Youth population in the state is the raw materials for investment in different sectors of development.'' The state had many untapped talents be it in the fields of Academics, Arts, Music and Sports, he said and added that these talents should be utilised to the maximum so as to create a vibrant youth force in the country.
''Our students are one of the most sought after human resources in the country by virtue of their ability to communicate effectively and fluently in English besides their other abilities,'' the Chief Minister said.
State Education Minister M Ampareen Lyngdoh, however, lamented that many children in the state were still not going to school and a good number of them, especially in the rural areas, were being used as cowhands instead of them being in the classrooms.
''This is an area of concern,'' she said while appealing to the parents, teachers and also the community to extend their cooperation in motivating the children to go to school and to bring about changes through education.