GUWAHATI: Just a couple of months before Assam celebrates its biggest festival Rongali BihuAssam Higher Secondary Education Council’s alleged move to discontinue the newly introduced subject on Bihu has triggered a furore among local organisations.
Introduction of the Bihu paper in class XI in 2020-21 academic session was considered a bold move at that time. But a few weeks before the first class XII batch of about 900 students, which has opted for the Bihu elective paper, is about to appear for exams, reports of AHSEC’s alleged decision to do away with the paper has sent shockwaves in the academia and society.
However, the education minister Ranoj Pegu on Sunday also told the media that a notification, confirming withdrawal of the Bihu paper has not been published yet.
Protests over the alleged decision may spill to the streets any moment, as the state’s biggest student organisation, All Assam Students’ Union (Aasu) has vowed to resist the move. However, the fact is that the education board is in a fix over “lack of qualified people” within the academia to evaluate the students appearing in the Bihu paper. Practical exams of class XII begins from February 21 and the Bihu paper has 70% weightage on practicals.
“Performance in any of the elective papers in the class XII state board examination counts, if a student performs well. But we need to do justice to the performance. We don’t have teachers, who are qualified with an academic degree on Bihu, to evaluate the examinees. Still, experts differ on their views how to perform Bihu with perfection and this can create problems in the practicals,” said a senior official of the AHSEC.
Board officials also underlined the fact that a practical approach book on Bihu for class XII could not be compiled till date. A detailed discussion on the matter was held in a recent academic council meeting of AHSEC. “According to norms, we need a teacher with masters degree to teach a subject after matriculation. But in case of the Bihu paper, we don’t have specialized teachers,” the official added.
But once the subject has been introduced, the protesting groups felt that it will be an insult to the festival if the paper is taken off the course. “Not only Bihu, but the AHSEC have also secretly decided to discontinue Swadesh Adhyayan (a paper on Assam’s history and geography). Such autocratic decisions are unfortunate because students were interested in these new additions,” said Aasu general secretary Sankar Jyoti Baruah.
Sources said amid pressure, Bihu experts from outside academia may be roped in to conduct the practical examination and the answer scripts of the Bihu paper may be evaluated by other teachers.
The education minister on Sunday said the concern is how the student will study Bihu in graduation. “After passing in the Bihu paper in class XII, how will they study the subject in colleges? Bihu is yet to be introduced in undergraduate degree courses anywhere in the state,” said Pegu.
In the class XII state board exam, two language papers are compulsory, whereas a student needs to appear in three more mandatory papers. Also, a student can choose one more elective paper. Finally, marks of five papers, where a student performs well, are counted.
Introduction of the Bihu paper in class XI in 2020-21 academic session was considered a bold move at that time. But a few weeks before the first class XII batch of about 900 students, which has opted for the Bihu elective paper, is about to appear for exams, reports of AHSEC’s alleged decision to do away with the paper has sent shockwaves in the academia and society.
However, the education minister Ranoj Pegu on Sunday also told the media that a notification, confirming withdrawal of the Bihu paper has not been published yet.
Protests over the alleged decision may spill to the streets any moment, as the state’s biggest student organisation, All Assam Students’ Union (Aasu) has vowed to resist the move. However, the fact is that the education board is in a fix over “lack of qualified people” within the academia to evaluate the students appearing in the Bihu paper. Practical exams of class XII begins from February 21 and the Bihu paper has 70% weightage on practicals.
“Performance in any of the elective papers in the class XII state board examination counts, if a student performs well. But we need to do justice to the performance. We don’t have teachers, who are qualified with an academic degree on Bihu, to evaluate the examinees. Still, experts differ on their views how to perform Bihu with perfection and this can create problems in the practicals,” said a senior official of the AHSEC.
Board officials also underlined the fact that a practical approach book on Bihu for class XII could not be compiled till date. A detailed discussion on the matter was held in a recent academic council meeting of AHSEC. “According to norms, we need a teacher with masters degree to teach a subject after matriculation. But in case of the Bihu paper, we don’t have specialized teachers,” the official added.
But once the subject has been introduced, the protesting groups felt that it will be an insult to the festival if the paper is taken off the course. “Not only Bihu, but the AHSEC have also secretly decided to discontinue Swadesh Adhyayan (a paper on Assam’s history and geography). Such autocratic decisions are unfortunate because students were interested in these new additions,” said Aasu general secretary Sankar Jyoti Baruah.
Sources said amid pressure, Bihu experts from outside academia may be roped in to conduct the practical examination and the answer scripts of the Bihu paper may be evaluated by other teachers.
The education minister on Sunday said the concern is how the student will study Bihu in graduation. “After passing in the Bihu paper in class XII, how will they study the subject in colleges? Bihu is yet to be introduced in undergraduate degree courses anywhere in the state,” said Pegu.
In the class XII state board exam, two language papers are compulsory, whereas a student needs to appear in three more mandatory papers. Also, a student can choose one more elective paper. Finally, marks of five papers, where a student performs well, are counted.
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