Shillong: As many as 13 Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRSs) are under construction in Meghalaya.
This was informed by Meghalaya Governor CH Vijayashankar while addressing the Assembly on the first day of the budget session on Friday.
He stated that EMRS Pahamsyiem has been completed, while EMRS Samanda is nearing completion.
The governor said that out of the total 38 sanctioned EMRSs in the state, the detailed project reports (DPRs) for 16 EMRSs have been approved for the tendering process and the land identification process is ongoing for seven EMRSs.
He also informed the House that infrastructure of over 2,000 schools is being upgraded by the Meghalaya government under Mission Education initiative.
Vijayashankar announced that the Meghalaya Future Ready TLM Kit (JaduiPitara) distribution has started, benefiting approximately 92,000 students in 3,925 schools.
The Meghalaya Vidya Samiksha Kendra, a command and control centre designed to monitor school education outcomes, has been launched by the state government.
“This has enabled the state to track online teacher attendance, which has now increased from 30% to nearly 85%. It has improved the mid-day meal reporting from 5% to 95%,” he said.
Further, the governor informed that the Captain Williamson Sangma State University was inaugurated recently, making it the first state university to be recognised by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
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Affiliation with the state university will ensure that the students would not be required to appear for the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) for under-graduation and post-graduation courses.
He stated that the government is actively providing central and state scholarships to students from Class IX to Ph.D. level across all districts.