HT Correspondent
NAGAON, June 14: The Nagaon district body of the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) joined the statewide protest against the government’s initiative to introduce English medium instruction for Mathematics and Science from Class 3 onwards. The protest, a three-hour sit-in, was held on Wednesday in Nagaon.
Over a hundred protesters from the youth organisation participated in the demonstration, demanding the immediate withdrawal of the government’s decision. They expressed concerns about the adverse effects of this move on the education system and urged the government to reconsider.
During the agitation, slogans were raised against the state government for its failure to appoint permanent school heads in lower primary schools across the state for several years. The protesters highlighted that this persistent problem has severely affected the educational environment in the primary level throughout the state.
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In a press release signed by Pragjyotish Bonia and Debashish Das, the president and secretary of the district unit of the AJYCP, the state government was urged to expedite the appointment of school heads in all lower primary schools. They emphasised the need to restore a conducive educational atmosphere in the lower primary level across the state.
Following the protest, the district unit of the AJYCP submitted a memorandum to chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma through the deputy commissioner of Nagaon.
The presence of Deepmoni Bora, the central organising secretary, and Diganta Das, the central publicity secretary of the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chatra Parishad, added further support to the demonstration, as stated in a press release.
Our Jorhat correspondent adds: The Jorhat district unit of AJYCP staged a sit-in demonstration in front of the Jorhat deputy commissioner’s office complex as part of a statewide protest. The demonstration aimed to urge the government to revoke its decision of teaching Science and Mathematics subjects in English from Class 6 in all government schools, instead of using the mother tongue language.
Protesters displayed banners and raised slogans against the government and Education minister Dr Ranoj Pegu, expressing their disagreement with the switch to English medium instruction for Science and Mathematics. They emphasised that this decision contradicts the Prime Minister’s earlier statement during the 2021 Assembly polls, where he announced the promotion of the Assamese language in engineering and medical institutions in Assam.
The protesters demanded that the teaching medium in government schools should be in Assamese or the respective mother tongue of the local people. Additionally, they called for the appointment of teachers for each class and permanent headmasters in government schools, as well as improvements in school infrastructure.
The students’ body warned of intensifying their protest if the government did not address their demands, with the primary demand being the withdrawal of the decision to teach Science and Mathematics in English medium.
