Whither Education?

Something must be terribly wrong with education in Assam, both at lower and higher levels. While the minister concerned, Himanta Biswa Sarma, talks of Assam being on a steady march towards it being the education hub of the entire Southeast Asian region (he said this at the Kaziranga University convocation ceremony recently), he at the same time admits that there are more than 2,700 single-teacher lower primary schools in the State. He said this a few days ago in the Assam Legislative Assembly. On Wednesday, he admitted in the House one more education fact, this time pertaining to higher education: that there are 613 vacant posts of teachers in 111 colleges in the State. This is a very dismal and dismaying education scerio that Assam is confronted with. The minister, however, said the process of recruitment to fill up 197 of the 613 vacant posts is underway. But what about the remaining posts, which is huge? One would also like to know from the minister as to which subject or department is suffering most acutely from the shortfall of teachers. Since the gravity of the issue cannot be overemphasized given that we have already heard of Assam being on its way to becoming the Southeast Asian ‘education capital’ too, it is incumbent on the minister in question to tell us what tangible plans he and his advisers in the bureaucracy have in mind to rescue education in the State from the abyss of despair. He should also ponder as to what has plagued the lone women’s university of the Northeast, at Jorhat, right under his very nose. Education is a very serious affair in the 21st-century competitive world. And we do not think the minister is not aware of this.