Own responsibility and step down, AYM tells Barkataky
By our Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI, March 4: All is not well in education in Assam! The Board of Secondary Education, Assam (SEBA) continues to get embroiled in one or the other failure. With the heat over textbook being over, the SEBA is set to hit headlines for High School Leaving Certificate (HSLC) answer scripts being charred into ashes. According to sources, as many as 8,225 answer scripts were charred in the incident.
In the wee hours today, the answer scripts kept in the strong room of Sankardeva Semiry HS School in Jorhat, which is an HSLC examition zone, were charred into ashes. There has been statewide protest against the incident that reeks of security lapses.
The yard in front of the SEBA office at Bamunimaidam was a veritable battleground where leaders and members of the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), the Satra Mukti Sangram Samiti (SMSS), Students’ Federation of India (SFI) and others were seen to demonstrate in full throttle against the burning of examition scripts.
The incident took a serious turn when the leaders of various political parties condemned the government and demanded it of conducting a high-level inquiry so as to pinpoint the responsibility.
Condemning the incident, members of the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva-Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) burnt the effigy of the chairman of the SEBA. The city committee of the parishad condemned the incident. Parishad’s city committee president Hemanta Das and general secretary in-charge Ratan Das said: “HSLC examitions in the State aren’t without incidents. It’s for the negligence of the SEBA chairman, HSLC answer scripts are eaten by cows or get burnt. We demand immediate arrest of the Secretary, SEBA. ”
The Asomiya Yuva Mancha (AYM) condemned the SEBA authorities for its neglect to the lives of over 68,000 HSLC candidates of Jorhat. In a statement today, AYM vice president Nipon Bora and secretary general Jitul Deka condemned the incident, and said: “The negligence on the part of SEBA has crossed all limits. Sometimes answer scripts are eaten by cows, as the cows are away, a fire charred them into ashes this year. The authorities concerned should be given exemplary punishment.” They condemned State Education Minister Sarat Barkataky for the incident. “Ageing Barkataky should’ve resigned by now. Owning his moral responsibility for the incident, Barkataky should step down as the Education Minister.”
While Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has already ordered an investigation into the incident by the CID, the Jorhat DC and the SEBA have also ordered investigation on their own.
The Bodo Sahitya Sabha (BSS) has also condemned the incident, and said: “HSLC answer scripts getting burnt is an unpardoble crime. The in-charge of the examition centre should be arrested without delay, and security in and around all examition centres in the state should be beefed up. In order to check the rising unwanted incidents in the SEBA, its chairman and the secretary should be removed with IAS officers.”