STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: Students in the Barak Valley are not keen to learn the Assamese language. This came to the fore during a meeting held recently to review various issues of the Directorate of Elementary Education, Government of Assam. In the meeting, it was revealed that although there are Assamese language teachers in the Barak Valley, there are no students to learn the language.
There are 210 Assamese Language Teachers (ALTs) serving in Bengali-medium schools of the Barak Valley but no students are opting to learn the Assamese language as an optional subject there. As the posts of these teachers are meant for schools with medium other than Assamese, they cannot be transferred or shifted to an Assamese-medium school. In the meeting, it was decided that these posts would be merged with the broad category of Language Teachers in upper primary and posted on a need basis.
Prior to 2015-16, the posting of a TET teacher was not done by strictly matching the L1 (Modern Indian Language) and the medium of a school. As a result, a TET teacher with Bengali L-1 was posted in an Assamese-medium school. Some of such errors have been rectified while some issues persist. It was decided in the meeting that the issue of L-1 and medium mismatch is to be addressed urgently and resolved. The teachers with such wrong postings can now apply in the hrmsassam.in portal. Besides, all the Block Elementary Education Officers (BEEOs) and DIS are to be instructed to submit a report about such cases for correction. Depending upon the availability of posts, the District Elementary Education Officers (DEEOs) may submit a proposal for intra-district transfer of the teachers or may recommend an inter-district transfer.
As the 3rd language subject is elective, the government will provide a teacher subject to fulfilment of the condition that there are a minimum of 10 students in every class of the ME section choosing the elective/optional language subject. Where there are less than 10 students in a class, the government will provide e-textbooks, e-lessons, and teleclasses, subject to the availability of facilities.
The Hindi language subject is not a compulsory subject in the ME stage but is an optional subject under the category of 3rd language. Under the 3rd language formula, the 1st language is MIL, the 2nd language is English, and the 3rd language is any listed language other than the MIL. There is no regular post as ‘Hindi teacher’ in the ME stage of school education. However, some posts were provincialized as Hindi teachers at different times. The National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) provides three categories of teachers for the ME stage. They are – Language Teacher, Science & Maths Teacher and Social Studies Teacher. In the meeting, it was decided that teachers who will be engaged in teaching MIL, and any optional/elective language subject shall be designated as Language Teacher with the name of the language in brackets. The teacher for the 2nd language shall be designated as the English Language Teacher.
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