State Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday evening said that these 17 schools would be shut down.
The Assam government has decided to shut 17 state-run schools from which not even a single student passed this year’s state board matriculation examination, authorities have said. Of the around 3.5 lakh students who appeared for the Assam HSLC exams — the results of which were declared on June 6 — around 65 per cent have passed.
Government records, accessed by The Indian Express, showed that in the 17 schools which are to be shut, a total of 140 students appeared for the matriculation examination with none clearing it. Five of the schools are located in Dima Hasao district, four in Jorhat, three in Karbi Anglong, two in Cachar, and one each in Kamrup (rural), Nagaon and Dhubri.
State Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday evening said that these 17 schools would be shut down. “Teachers will be transferred across Assam within the next 72 hours. Students will have the opportunity to enroll themselves in the nearby school,” he said.
Two senior officials of the state’s education department told The Indian Express on Monday that the process of listing out how many teachers and students are there in these 17 schools is underway.
The officials added that a formal order regarding the amalgamation of these schools with others will soon be passed by the government. “The process has been initiated. The formal order will be out soon,” one of the officials said.
On Sunday, the state government had announced that this year, all admissions in state-run institutions — from higher-secondary to post-graduate levels in all streams — would be free, irrespective of the financial backgrounds of the students.
Moreover, the government would be reimbursing each student’s mess dues to the tune of Rs 1,000 per month and will reimburse students with Rs 1,000 towards the cost of buying textbooks.
“We are taking this step because due to the COVID pandemic, many parents have been rendered financially constrained. It is our duty to support them,” Sarma had said.