Students attend class in Meghalaya assembly

SHILLONG: Twelve schoolstudents on Friday began an attachment programme at the Meghalaya assembly to get acquainted with various aspects of the functioning of parliamentary democracy.

As the session began, speaker Charles Pyngrope said the students would observe the proceedings and be allowed to interact with members of the house during the Youth Legislative Attachment Programme.

"They will gain knowledge on the functioning of the legislative assembly and see for themselves how effective parliamentary democracy is," Pyngrope said.

The students would later submit a report on their observations to the speaker and the entire programme would find mention in the records of the assembly. The speaker, who read out the names of the participating pupils from St Anthony's School, said Meghalaya has taken cue from the Provincial Assembly of Ontario state in Canada where a similar practice is being followed.

In the Ontario assembly, students play the role of pagers and sit right next to the legislators, ready to provide them with stationery or collect notes from officers to pass them over to members of the treasury bench and other similar duties.

The students, who witnessed the proceedings, appeared excited and said they could learn a lot regarding the functioning of the assembly.