COVID-19 shatters dreams of young students of Assam

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The COVID-19 crisis has shattered dreams of many young students of Assam to pursue higher education in Delhi, Bengaluru and other metro cities after clearing their higher secondary or Plus II examinations.

Even though few parents and guardians are still adopting a wait-and-watch policy before taking a final call on sending their wards outside, majority of them have decided to admit their students in different colleges in the State for the current academic year.

According to a conservative estimate nearly 40,000 students from Assam move to metro cities to pursue higher education in different streams every year.

"My son has scored 92 per cent in the Arts stream in HS examinations 2020. He has been harboring a dream of pursuing English literature in Delhi University or St Stephen's College. Under the present circumstances I cannot let my son to move outside Assam. Health is much more important than education. He could go to Delhi next year also once the COVID-19 crisis is controlled," Shahnaz Haque, a college teacher in the city said.

Shahnaz Haque is not alone. Dreams of many young students to pursue higher education in the country's top bracket institutions have been shattered as their parents are not allowing them to move outside the State.

On the other hand the development has triggered another crisis in colleges in the State. Many colleges are set to face acute shortage seats to accommodate all students who have cleared the higher secondary examination.

"In the previous years, thousands of students used to move out of Assam to pursue higher education. We could accommodate the rest of students in State's colleges. The reverse is happening this year," the Principal of a city college said.

Altogether 1,82,260 students have cleared the higher secondary examinations this years from Science, Arts and Commerce streams. The State has 484 colleges and majority of them (104) are situated in Guwahati. Among colleges 11 are government, 313 provincialized and 147 non-provincialized. Barring some colleges majority of the institutions have maximum 250 to 350 seats in degree classes. "Under such circumstances it will impossible to accommodate all students in degree classes," a teacher at a city college said.

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