Photo Courtesy: nenews
Shillong: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma opened a new building at Synod College in Nongstoin on Thursday. The project adds a library and interactive smart classrooms to the West Khasi Hills district. Ministers and lawmakers Methodius Dkhar, Gabriel Wahlang, and R.G. Momin attended the ceremony.
Sangma used the platform to highlight an eight-year push to fix the state education system. He said the government consolidated 14,000 schools into 11,500. Officials have also opened 10 new technical institutes since 2018, including Shillong Medical College and the College of Architecture and Urban Planning.
Education now takes the biggest slice of the state budget. The government spends Rs 3,500 crore on schooling from an annual outlay of Rs 30,000 crore. Scholarship payments reached Rs 400 crore over the last year, with the most recent installment of Rs 104 crore paid out on October 13, 2026.
The Chief Minister compared educational reform to untangling a knot. He told the crowd, "Education is like a tangled headphone wire. If you pull too hard on one side, the knot gets stronger. You have to patiently untangle one knot at a time, carry all stakeholders along and minimise impact. That is the approach we have taken."
Sangma addressed concerns about funding and staff pay at the college. He promised the government would support the institution's future needs. He credited the Presbyterian Church for their work in the region and vowed to find the money necessary to sustain these academic projects.
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