Shillong, Aug 27: UDP MLA Paul Lyngdoh has called for immediate constitution of an Education Reforms Commission, asserting that Meghalaya must reclaim its position as the education hub of the Northeast
Raising a short-duration discussion on education in the Assembly, the West Shillong legislator said Shillong had produced two Chief Election Commissioners – Harishankar Brahma and J M Lyngdoh from St Edmund’s College, a record outranked only by St Stephen’s, Delhi, four Chief Ministers from St Anthony’s College, and diplomat Jordina Diengdoh from St Mary’s School, who served as Ambassador to Ethiopia, Representative to the African Union and Deputy High Commissioner in Australia and Zimbabwe.
“I mentioned these personalities and the fact that they all had their education in Meghalaya… it is something we should not only look back on with pride but we must reignite that passion,” he said.
He said the state’s PGI score had improved from 448.0 to 525.7, moving from Akanshi-3 to Akanshi-1, but Meghalaya was still the lowest among the eight northeastern states, below Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura.
Regarding MBOSE, Lyngdoh, himself a product of the board, said people earlier clamoured for MBOSE but now preferred ICSE.
He questioned holding the SSLC examination in the freezing months of December and January while Assam, with a warmer climate, holds it in February, leaving students with less time to prepare.
He blamed the mandatory prescription of MBOSE textbooks for all classes and the poor quality of those books, unlike ICSE’s flexibility, and said reforms like the removal of best-of-five and adoption of NCERT were introduced without teacher retraining, capacity audit, counselling support and availability of examiners
Two examinations a year, he said, had added stress and reduced seriousness.
Pointing out the 2025 study by D Passah on social media use among higher secondary students, he sought state-level data and a comprehensive study on phone, internet and social media addiction and its impact on mental health, besides counselling support in collaboration with health institutions.
He said Meghalaya was the lowest nationally in learning outcomes, joint lowest with Jharkhand in equity, near the bottom in access, near the lower end along with Bihar in infrastructure, and only 0.6% above the lowest nationally in teacher education, though relatively strong in governance at 85.6%.
With over 14,500 schools, including 206 with zero enrolment and 2,269 with fewer than 10 students, he said there was fragmentation and the government should consolidate rather than add more schools.
Lyngdoh wanted the education minister to improve performance and institute a reforms commission.
