KOKRAJHAR,JAN 4:.The All Bodo Students Union (ABSU) has resolved a decision to stage a state wide sit-in demonstration on 8th January on demanding of immediate solution on long-pending educational issues.The students union expressed it’s displeasure over the failure of state government to address the problem and issues of the educational issues of the Bodo community.
In a press statement issued to the media, ABSU president Dipen Boro and general secretary Khanindra Basumatary told that the ABSU is decided to organise a state-wide sit-in demonstration on January 8, 2025,
Demanding Immediate solution on long-pending educational issues.
” In a decisive move to address the long-pending educational demands of the Bodo community and highlight the Government of Assam’s failure to prioritise these issues, the All Bodo Students Union (ABSU) will carry out a
state-wide 3 hours sit-in demonstration on January 8, 2025, at every District Headquarters in Assam. The demonstration will be held from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM, during which ABSU members and members of the general public will participate in a peaceful protest”,the statement said.
” Despite numerous representations, dialogues with concerned government departments and officials, and repeated assurances made by the government in various meetings and sittings, the educational demands of the Bodo community remain long pending and have not been given due importance or priority. In light of this, ABSU has decided to stage the sit-in demonstration to ensure that the government takes immediate and tangible action on the key demands which include inclusion of Bodo as a subject in the Assam Judicial Service Examinations, inclusion of Bodo as Language 1 in the Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET), establishment of 35 new ‘Model High Schools’ in the Bodo medium, upgradation of 101 Bodo-medium High Schools to Higher Secondary Schools, along with the recruitment of teachers for these upgraded institutions”.
The students union demanded immediate provincialisation of venture schools by implementing of Clause 6.3 of the BTR Accord, recruitment and filling of the vacant Academic Officer post for Bodo medium in the merged Assam State School education Board (ASSEB), formerly the Board of Secondary Education Assam (SEBA), recruitment and appointment of an Academic Officer for the Bodo medium at the Assam Textbook and Publication
Corporation, recruitment and appointment of a Lecturer in Bodo language at the State Council of Educational Research and
Training (SCERT), recruitment and appointment of a Translator for the Bodo language in the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), recruitment of two permanent teachers for each school under the Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS) that offers Bodo-medium education.
The students union has sought to the
introduction of Bodo as a medium of instruction in the Model Degree Colleges located in Baksa, Dhudnoi, and
Balipara, introduction and distribution of educational books in the Bodo language at Anganwadi centers, recruitment of one Assistant Professor for each of the Bodo departments in 10 colleges located outside the
Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR), transfer of teachers proficient in reading and writing in Bodo, currently teaching in various schools of different mediums across Assam, to Bodo-medium schools etc.
The ABSU has emphasised that the failure to address these demands has led to widespread reaction within the Bodo community. The sit-in demonstration is an expression of the community’s demand for justice and a call for the government to honour its past assurances and commitments made to the union.
The students union urges all concerned citizens and students to actively participate in this peaceful democratic protest to demand urgent action from the government of Assam.
