Shillong, Aug. 30: The Congress-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government will have the final say on the Meghalaya Board of School Education issue tomorrow.

A cabinet meeting of the MDA government will decide whether the recommendations of the state-level committee on the school board will be accepted.

The committee report on the board was submitted last evening to chief minister D.D. Lapang. The 65-page report vindicates MDA?s stand on revamping the school education board and streamlining the system with sufficient officers and manpower.

It is likely that the cabinet will give its seal of approval to the report, as it is aware that accepting the recommendations could bring the ongoing agitation in the city to an end.

The MDA government had set up the state-level committee under the chairmanship of chief secretary P.J. Bazeley, following the Khasi Students? Union?s (KSU) refusal to accept the government?s offer for talks on the subject.

The KSU has been demanding that the government appoint a full-fledged chairman for the education board, with a secretary each in Shillong and Tura. The government had set August 31 as the deadline for the submission of the report.

Several NGOs, including women?s organisations, seem to have found the recommendations satisfactory, though they have not openly said so. Significantly, the NGOs have not rejected the report either.

The KSU, which began the agitation on the school board issue, said everything would depend on the outcome of the cabinet meeting. ?We will wait for the cabinet to take a decision and only after that we will take a decision,? KSU president Samuel Jyrwa said.

He said a meeting with the 21 NGOs would be held to decide whether the recommendations were acceptable.

The KSU president condemned the arrest of its members and termed it as a move to ?throttle the democratic movement,? by the NGOs.

On Sunday night, police arrested KSU organising secretary Nickson Dohling under the Meghalaya Preventive Detention Act (MPDA), along with another member of its Nongthymmai unit. Last month, two leaders of the union, vice-president Michael War and education secretary Kitboklang Dkhar, were booked under the same law.

Leader of the Civil Society Women?s Organisations Irene Hujon has demanded that the arrested KSU leaders be released immediately.

?To press for the release of the KSU leaders, we have submitted a letter to the deputy commissioner, who told us that if the KSU calls off its agitation, the leaders could be released after completion of official processes,? Hujon said.

Lapang had a series of meetings with his ministers and senior government officials today, to discuss the developments following the submission. He indicated that the cabinet would be the ultimate authority on the issue.