The launching of the campaign appropriately coincides with the National Education Day observed on the Birth Anniversary of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the first Education Minister of Independent India, who was an intellectual par excellence.
Speaking at the launching of the awareness campaign on Right to Education Act, Dr Sangma said the awareness campaign will enlighten people, especially the parents and the policy makers, about the provisions of the Right to Education Act.
He said the three major issues of education in the state is access, equity and quality which needs to be addressed in a holistic manner to ensure that the system of education and research not only contribute to nation building, but also create a knowledgeable society with values of sustainability.
Dr Sangma also informed that in order to institutionalise implementation of the RTE Act, posts of Joint Directors of School Education have been created in each and every district, mapping of schools by GIS mapping covering a total of 12,794 schools all over the state.
He also informed that as a quality improvement initiative, no detention policy has been notified and continuous and comprehensive evaluation is being introduced in all schools.
”Teacher recruitment policy is being revised as per the National Council of Teachers Education and that all teachers need to be trained and VRS is being offered to untrainable teachers,” Dr Sangma said.
Dr Sangma said the RTE rules set minimum standard for infrastructure facilities in schools which is the biggest challenge for the state.
He also informed that the state government is committed to make all schools compliant with the standards and affirm that the child centered RTE will be fully implemented in Meghalaya by 2013.
Exuding confidence that with the RTE in place, Dr Sangma said RTE will enable the parents to equip their children with the right instrument to face the era of globalisation which is competitive in all respects.
”We should create an enabling environment for our children and the parents have a very important role to play in developing the skills and knowledge of their children and make them compatible with the change,” .