Shillong, A school in Meghalaya’s East Khasi Hills district was shut by village authorities and members of a students’ union for not introducing Khasi language as a subject, officials said on Wednesday.
Madan Hindi Patshala Secondary School in the Madanrting area was asked to shut down after complaints that the absence of Khasi teaching was depriving local students of the opportunity to appear for the subject in their matriculation examinations.
Local headman and village secretary, accompanied by Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) leaders, went to the school on Wednesday and, after learning about the absence of the Khasi subject from the principal, entered classrooms and asked students to leave for the day before directing the school to suspend operations, sources said.
They also warned of putting the school under lock and key permanently if the demand to introduce the Khasi language is not met.
Village authorities said they had petitioned the school’s managing committee on the issue last year, urging it to introduce Khasi as a subject.
They added that the managing committee had given a written assurance to implement the subject from the current academic session, but failed to do so.
Members of the KSU and village leaders maintained that the absence of Khasi puts students at a disadvantage, particularly in meeting requirements for local language proficiency in board exams, and stressed that the move to shut down the school was taken after repeated follow-ups with the school management yielded no results.
The development comes against the backdrop of a recent state government notification making proficiency in the local language mandatory for recruitment to posts under the District Selection Committee.
Officials said candidates are required to clear a qualifying paper in the respective local language to be eligible for such jobs.
School authorities have not yet issued an official statement on the matter.
