All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) has warned the state government not to destroy the vernacular medium of instruction in schools and to take adequate steps to protect it.
Announcing their month-long agitation after holding discussions with at least nine teachers' associations of Assam on Sunday, the AASU leadership took important decisions regarding the row over the medium of instruction for teaching Science and Maths in government-run schools from classes III to XII.
The AASU said, “We demand the government to call off the decision to introduce English as the medium of instruction in all government-run schools from classes III to XII. We have started a month-long agitation today. On May 30, we will organize hunger strikes across all districts of Assam.”
“Languages including Assamese and Bodo have a history of their evolution. The government has taken help of lies to distract people. Instead of implementing English as the medium of instruction for teaching Maths and Science, the government should first take steps to teach English language properly," they stated.
The students' union urged the government to take note so that Assamese medium students do not have to reel under the diffidence of not knowing the English language.
They also said that by introducing English as a medium of instruction, the government is taking a step toward destroying schools.
The state government wants to merge the state government education board with Central, alleged the AASU.
“People of the state have started to lose trust on the state education board. This has started ever since Ranoj Pegu took charge as the education minister of the state,” the AASU leadership further stated.
The AASU also compared the Assam education minister’s role to that of a ‘puppet’. They asserted that the education minister waits for directives from the chief minister and is unable to take any decision on his own.
“Except announcing the date of the HSLC examination results 2023, the education minister has not taken any decision himself,” the AASU said.
The AASU reiterated, “We sat for discussions with the government, but did not come to any conclusion. We will sit for agitations if the government does not withdraw their decision.”