After laptop now it’s time for scooty. In a grand show recently organised by the State government, Chief Minister Sarbanda Sonowal and Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma distributed scooties to 1,000 girl students who had excelled in the State Board Class XII fil examitions in 2017. The Sonowal government dubbed the initiative a step forward to women empowerment. It was also aimed at encouraging girl students to perform better in higher studies, where many a time boys outshine the opposite sex. Successive governments at Dispur tried to tap into the vast student community by distributing freebies like laptop to those who secured 60 percent marks in class X examition. The Sonowal government had distributed over 3.32 crore free texbooks to government school students from Primary level to Class X by incurring a total expenditure of Rs 111.98 crore. It is for sure that the spending of such ture would certainly put additiol fincial burden on the State exchequer if it is scaled up in future. However, the spending on education both at tiol and State level are dismal. The sordid state of infrastructure of government-run schools is a telling story of apathy and neglect. Previous governments resorted to cosmetic changes whereas the effort should have been directed towards making structural changes to adapt to the changing needs of an advanced education system. It appears though that the present Assam government’s priorities are misplaced. Instead of making planned investment in a primary social sector that underpins the economy, the Sonowal government is heading in the opposite direction of luring students with gifts.