ABSU demands teachers’ appointment, implementation of clause 6.3 of BTR accord

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOKRAJHAR: The All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU) on Tuesday demanded the appointment of TET qualified candidates in elementary and secondary levels in the schools of BTR; proper implementation of official language in BTR i.e. Bodo, Assamese and English; immediate recruitment of Grade III/IV employees in BTR against the vacant positions; provincialization of colleges and schools as per 6.3 of the BTR accord; providing ex- gratia to the next of kin of martyrs of the Bodoland Movement and establishment of institutions as enlisted in the MoS of the BTR accord.

A meeting between a delegation of ABSU and officials of BTC was held at the conference hall of the BTC Secretariat on Tuesday to resolve various issues related to education. The president of the ABSU, Dipen Boro led the ABSU delegation while Principal Secretary of BTC, Anurag Goel, Secretary of Education, Amarjyati Barman and Director of Education, BTC, JP Brahma represented from the government side. A memorandum was submitted to the CEM of BTC, Pramod Boro through the Principal Secretary demanding the solution of education-related issues.

The president of the ABSU, Dipen Boro said that many lower primary schools in BTR were running with zero teacher and single teacher in all the four districts, for which the process of educating children in a systematic way and giving them quality education had become a hindrance. He said that the Article 21A of the Constitution of India states to provide free and compulsory education of all children of 6-14 years of age as a fundamental right. He also said the government data stated that there were 2,000 TET qualified candidates in 2019 and 5,956 TET qualified candidates in 2021 in the elementary level within BTR. He demanded recruitment of all qualified candidates against the vacant positions in BTR as well as in secondary schools of BTR.

Boro said that according to the clause 6.2 of the MoS of the Bodo peace accord, the Governor of Assam had notified Bodo language as the associate official language of Assam by amending the Assam Official Language Act, 1960. “The Bodo language was included in the 8th schedule of the Indian Constitution in 2004 and simultaneously, the substitution of section 5A of the amended act reads as- ‘Without prejudice to the provisions contained in section 3, the Bodo language in Devanagri script would be used as an associate official language for all or any of the official purposes of the State of Assam as are specified in the schedule’. However, it is still evident that the Bodo language is either neglected or omitted by the public authorities, government agencies and institutions,” he said adding that the government should initiate effective and most suitable action to ensure that the Bodo language is used by all the public authorities, government agencies and institutions in any official information, notice or any other publication in written, oral or electronic forms in BTR starting from Bodoland Secretariat to VCDC level, all departments, DC offices, municipal and town committees signboards etc. in a chronological order of Bodo, Assamese and English.

The ABSU president in the memorandum demanded the provincialization of colleges and schools as per clause no. 6.3 of the BTR accord which stated that the ‘Government of Assam will initiate measures to provincialize schools and colleges established in BTC and Bodo medium schools outside BTC as per special need and requirement’. However, there are many venture Bodo medium schools in the State that are not provincialized yet. The memorandum also stated that the Chief Minister of Assam had already announced for provincialization of 10 colleges for phase-I in his budget speech in 2022 but the process is yet to be completed.

The union demanded early implementation of the clause 6.3 and provincialization of all the venture schools and colleges of BTR and Assam without further delay to protect the medium and to provide quality education.

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