Tura, June 9: Hundreds of students took part in a rally spearheaded by the Garo Students' Union at Tura, the headquarters of West Garo Hills district, today.
About 2,500 students, holding placards, vented their anger against the new admission policy for higher secondary courses in colleges.
According to the policy, colleges cannot run higher secondary classes. Colleges wanting to have higher secondary classes must have separate infrastructure.
Adhering to the policy, two premier colleges: Williamnagar Government College in East Garo Hills and Captain Williamson Memorial Government College at Baghmara in South Garo Hills have stopped admissions to higher secondary courses. Last week, the GSU had served a two-day ultimatum to the government to ensure that Class XI admission is allowed in the two colleges.
The GSU feels the policy will have a huge impact in the Garo hills, as it has very few higher secondary schools.
"Most private higher secondary schools offer only arts courses, which will deprive students from pursuing higher studies in the science and commerce streams," said Zikku Balgra Marak, president, GSU interim unit. He said the government must immediately find ways to resolve the matter.
At the rally today, GSU leaders urged education minister R.C. Laloo to look into the matter. "We will continue to protest till the matter is resolved and admissions are reopened," Marak said.
The GSU rally started from Chandmari playground and culminated at the deputy commissioner's office.
UGC norms: A conglomeration of civil societies including the GSU, Federation of Khasi Jaintia and Garo People, Association for Democracy and Empowerment and A'chik Youth Welfare Organisation today met to discuss the University Grants Commission (UGC) norms at Tura.
The UGC norms mandate implementation of semester system at the graduation level. The conglomeration feels that the required education infrastructure is not available in Garo hills for implementation of this system.
They feel that lack of educational facilities will create a "disturbed situation", which will force students to join insurgent outfits. "The government has implemented UGC norms in Meghalaya without taking into consideration the educational infrastructure of Garo hills region," a joint statement of the civil organisation said.
"The UGC should have taken into account the fact that the northeastern states are neglected and there aren't enough colleges to absorb all students," the release said.
"We have been asking the government to upgrade colleges and schools to accommodate the growing number of students along with setting up more schools and colleges. The government has been telling us about the public private partnership to set up such schools. While we are not opposed to the idea, the lack of implementation is hurting everyone," it said.
It also said the teacher:student ratio as mandated by UGC would pose a hindrance for the colleges in Garo hills. "No college in Garo hills has enough lecturers or laboratories to fulfil the criteria," they said. Urging the government to seriously ponder the ground realities of Garo hills, the release said, "The government must induct more lecturers in government colleges. We urge them to sanction more posts for the Garo hills region. We also want full-fledged principals and vice-principals for government colleges. The government must increase the number of colleges to mitigate the burden on the current institutions."
