Assam makes Bodo new medium of instruction in Classes XI & XII

Guwahati: After drawing flak for its decision to teach maths and science in English in government-run schools from Class III onwards “ringing the death knell of regional languages”, the Assam government has now taken a bold move to make Bodo the first tribal medium of instruction in Classes XI and XII.
A notification issued by the school education department on Friday approved the introduction of Bodo as a separate medium of instruction in Classes XI and XII in Bodo and mixed medium (having Bodo as one of the mediums of instruction) higher secondary schools of the state. So far, Bodo used to offered up to Class X.
Education department sources said the decision to woo the influential Bodo tribals was made in keeping with CM Himanta Biswa Sarma’s promise to introduce their language as a medium of instruction during the 61st session of the Bodo Sahitya Sabha at Tamulpur earlier this year.
”Our plan is to offer at least 14 major subjects of arts, science and commerce in Bodo language. Under the guidance of the Bodo Sahitya Sabha (BSS) and with the active involvement of the subject experts of the Assam Higher Secondary Education Council (AHSEC), the preparation of textbooks in Bodo has started. We are hopeful of introducing the same in the next academic session starting April,” Pulak Patgiri, secretary of AHSEC, told TOI on Saturday.
He said the council is going ahead with the plan to transliterate the books of the core science subjects — physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics — as well as those considered of prime importance from the socio-economic point of view and that help to trace the history of the land, into Bodo.
“Economics, history, education and anthropology will be taught in Bodo. Once the books of the major papers get ready in Bodo, we will focus on the minor subjects,” Patgiri said.
Currently, the AHSEC offers senior secondary courses (Classes XI and XII) in three different mediums — Assamese, Bengali and English.
According to the 2011 census, Bodos constitute 14 lakh of the 3.12 crore population of the state.