Shillong, July 8: State reservation policy will be applicable for job recruitment in 40 Ekalavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) to be set in the state.
Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui told reporters that he is thankful to Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Arjun Munda for allowing the government to implement the state reservation policy in these schools.
Rymbui said assurance in this regard was made by Munda to the state delegation led by Chief Minister Conrad Sangma during their visit to New Delhi.
The education minister said the state government for the past one year has been requesting for implementation of the state reservation policy after the Centre’s decision to implement the all India reservation policy for the process of job recruitment in the EMRSs in the country.
Only 7.5% is reserved for the Scheduled Tribe (ST) as per the all India reservation policy.
“Since we have many unemployed youths and that they may lose out the chance of getting employment, so we as a government thought it is not a very good idea to go with the policy of the Centre. Hence, the request was made,” he said.
“If we go by the policy of the central government, if there are 2,000 posts, tribals from the state will get only 150 while the rest will be coming from the general category,” he added.
According to the education minister, apart from providing accessibility and quality education to the students, the setting up of the EMRS will pave the way for addressing the unemployment problem faced by the youth in the state.
Rymbui said construction of two EMRS is currently going on in two different places at Nongpoh and Samanda.
Of the 40 EMRS, 13 have been allotted to WAPCOS while 23 to Manipur’s MIDC.
Rymbui further informed that the Chief Minister will soon form a committee to monitor the construction of these schools.
“The CM will call a meeting probably by next week with the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, WAPCOS and MIDC of Manipur and education department to see how things should move faster,” he said.
