Situated in the north-eastern corner of India, Assam is a state endowed with natural resources, minerals and biodiversity. It has its own distinct culture, which is formed by assimilation of different cultures followed by the natives of the state. Being the “Gateway of North-East”, Assam is also considered as the educational and commercial hub of the entire region. Although it is considered as the educational hub and many students from various parts of the region visits the state, the education system here, is still not up to the mark. It needs a lot of reformation in various stages, starting from primary education system.
The education system in Assam is the best among the other states of North-East Region.The modern age of Education in Assam began with the annexation of Assam with the British Empire in accordance with the treaty of Yandaboo in 1826. In 1840 Late W. Robinson was appointed as the first Inspector of Schools. In that period the political and social scenario of Assam was unstable and very less importance was given to education sector. The British Government had taken initiatives with the help of some local people to improve education system. As a result by the year 1875, the number of educational institution for general education increased to 1,293. Most of the changes and developments have been occurred since independence in 1947. After Independence the government has taken major steps in education sector as it was the vital factor to National Progress and security. The construction of Gauhati University building was taken up during the period and an amount of Rs.43 lakhs was allocated for the purpose.
In terms of education, Assam has developed into a top educational destination at the state as well as at the national level. To enhance the status of Assam education, the state government has introduced many innovative education polices. It's capital city; Guwahati is a key destination for higher education for students of the whole of north-eastern region.Initiatives taken by the Government during five year plans.
In 1951-52 the policy for planned development was adopted for the first time in the country. Construction of Guwahati University was started in that period.
In the second five year plan construction of Guwahati university was completed and a Govt. Post-Graduate Training College for training of Secondary teachers was established at Jorhat. During the third plan Board of secondary Education, State Institute of Education, Dibrugarh University was established. In that period Sanskrit Education was also encouraged. 18 out of 50 Tols and one Sanskrit College were established at that time.
In fourth five year plan BT College was established. New schooling pattern was introduced (on recommendation of Kothari Commission). As a result one year pre-university was changed to two year classes. In 1970 a Government Sanskrit College was established and so on.
The Education system of Assam is the schools and Colleges of Assam are either run by the state government or private organization. The schools in Assam are affiliated either to State Education Board, Assam (SEBA), Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE), or to the Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE).
The state Education Department gives special attention to the Primary sector in Assam.School education in Assam is imparted through a number of pre-primary, primary,middle, high and higher secondary schools. The Government of Assam has implemented the free and compulsory education policy for students up to the age of 14. The syllabus at primary schools is set up the Directorate of Elementary Education, Assam.
The medium of instruction in Assam at the school level is usually Assamese or English.The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) affiliated schools in the state use English as their medium of instruction. English is also used to teach at most higher educational institutions in Assam.
After completing the secondary education that involves 10 years of schooling, students usually enroll in higher secondary education in any one of the three disciplines - Science, Commerce and Arts. Students can opt for Business Management, Computer Application Architecture and other vocational courses also. Apart from this there are teacher training institutes, special schools for the differently abled persons. Assam has most wide-ranging networks of higher educational institutions in the whole of North-Eastern region of India
The importance of education in the lives of people cannot be ignored as it plays a crucial role in shaping ones personality, intellect, etc. With the beginning of modernization, education has played vital role in modernizing Assamese people and enriching the culture. The development of modern education in Assam started when the British came into power in the year 1826. In the year 1835, secondary education started in Assam, when Captain Jenkins, the then Commissioner of Assam started an English medium school in the city of Guwahati named “Guwahati Seminari” which is the present Cotton Collegiate School located in Panbazar. In the year 1841 another school was opened in Sivsagar, which is the present day “Sibsagar Govt. Higher Secondary school”. Since then, the state had made a noteworthy development in the field of education. As per the 2011 census, the literacy rate of the state was 73.18% with the urban areas showing a higher percentage of 88.88%, and the rural areas showed 70.44%. Statistically, males and females had a discrepancy in their literacy rates; however, the urban females at 67.27% are much higher than the all India female literacy rate i.e. 65.46%.
The concept of Distance learning has made the journey of acquiring higher education easier for those people who are already working. This helps them to work and study in the same phase by saving a lot of precious time. Assam Distance Education is a popular among the people of the state, especially for those who are working or are engaged in the household works and are yet ea-ger to enroll themselves for a course. Distance learning is offered in the different universities in Assam. There are other institutes that provide only courses on distance education. Distance learning courses are also known as Correspondence Courses. In the fast pace of life to-day, correspondence or distance learning is highly preferred as it saves a lot of valuable time. It gives ample scope for one study along with doing other activities. One can stay at one's own place and study from a university situated far away. Assam Distance Education is very popular the distance learning centers and the universities that offer distance or correspondence courses charge much lower amount of fees when compared to that of the regular study programs. The distance education courses or the correspondence courses in Assam provide all the neces-sary materials for study in the distance courses. Gauhati University, one of the leading universities of Assam, conducts some special classes on holidays so that the students are able to attend to the classes. The classes are intentionally held on holidays so that the students, who are working or live far away, can manage to attend to the classes and clarify their doubts.
Although, there have been several remarkable developments in the education system of Assam since pre-independence era, some reforms are still needed as it is still not upto-date. Most importantly, the education system of the state is not systematic and lacks in many aspect. There are very few qualified teachers in the primary level and since this level forms the basis of strong education, Government should appoint qualified teachers, who are properly trained. Another significant thing that needs reformation is the infrastructure of schools and colleges. The major fault lies in the infrastructure, which is not strong enough for implication of the necessary reforms. Next important reform that needs to be made is that job-oriented courses should be introduced to put an end to the long persisting unemployment problem in the state. In addition to these, modern-day techniques should be employed to impart education to students in schools and colleges.
Over all, the role of government in education was limited because of the dominance of private emergence of private sectors. Now government has taken the policy of de-linking pre-degree courses from the colleges. Besides the private institutions offers more job oriented courses and courses of commercial interests.
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