Education Of Meghalaya

The literacy rate of Meghalaya is 74.4 per cent. Male literacy stands at 76.0 percent while female literacy is at 72.9 percent.

Principal Languages

Khasi, Pnar and Garo are the principal languages in Meghalaya whereas English has been reognised as the official language of the State. Rev. Thomas Jones, a Welsh missionary, is referred to as the father of the Khasi alphabet. He is credited with the formulation of a Khasi Alphabet in 1842. Garo Alphabet came into being in 1902 by American missionaries. Spoken by more than 10 lakhs of people, Khasi was once listed in Unesco’s Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger.

As of 2014-15, Meghalaya had 7505 schools. Of these, 6,612 were primary, 783 were secondary and 112 were higher secondary schools. Of the total higher secondary schools, 44 were located in the East Khasi Hills district.

In 2014-15, secondary schools had a total number of 4,621 teachers whereas upper secondary schools had 526 teachers.

In 2014, pre-service teacher training program was launched by the state government for district level institutes of education and training.

In July 2015, the state government entered into a partnership with Microsoft in order to launch smart classrooms in the state.

Under 12th Five Year Plan, the state government proposed an outlay of US$ 497.68 million for school education & literacy, higher education and training. Under budget 2015-16, the state government proposed an allocation of US$ 113.12 million for development of education sector in the state.

Universities

University of Science and Technology, Meghalaya (USTM), CMJ University, North Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Mahatma Gandhi University, The Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India University, Martin Luther Christian University, Techno Global University, University of Technology and Management and William Carey University are the universities in Meghalaya. Shillong is home to NEIGRIHMS, the first and the only Postgraduate Medical Institute in the North Eastern region of the country. first Indian Institute of Management (RGIIM), was established in Shillong which also boasts National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT).