Guwahati: The all-powerful All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) on Friday announced a month-long statewide agitation against the Assam government’s decision to teach maths and science subjects in English in the vernacular medium schools of the state from Class 6 onwards. The series of agitation by the students’ union will start with a discussion with the teachers’ associations of the state on Sunday and will culminate with a meeting of the academicians and educationists of the state on June 27 in Assam’s Guwahati.
Speaking to media persons on the issue, AASU president in-charge Utpal Sarma and secretary Sankarjyoti Boruah said, “The decision of the government to teach maths and science in English from Class 6 is detrimental to the growth of the Assamese, Bodo, and other local languages. We have been opposing it since it was announced last year. Now, we will launch a month-long agitation starting from Saturday to press for withdrawal of the decision.”
“Rather than taking such decisions, students in vernacular medium schools should be taught English properly, so that they can be fluent in the language,” the AASU leaders added.
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The discussion with the teachers’ associations on Sunday will be followed by a 10-hour fast by all the regional committees of AASU on Wednesday and a ‘gana satyagraha’ in the state capital Guwahati on June 6.
All the local committees of the AASU will undertake a mass awareness drive against the government’s decision from June 8 to 14, followed by protests and demonstrations at the district level on June 15, and a bicycle procession on June 24 in all the subdivisions of the state.
The stir will end with a meeting of academicians on June 27 in Guwahati.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma at a review meeting of the state Education Department in July 2022 had directed for the introduction of English as a medium of instruction for science and maths from Class 6 to Class 12, along with the continuation of the teaching of both subjects in the Assamese language.
The writer is a senior independent journalist covering the Northeast.
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