26 private colleges of BTR to be made government institutes in Assam

Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday said 26 private colleges in Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) will be brought under government control in the first phase of provincialisation. Sarma held a meeting with a delegation of All Bodo Students Union (ABSU) and Bodo Sahitya Sabha (BSS) regarding development of the educational sector in the BTR as per the Bodo Accord.

"As per the request of the delegation, it was decided that 26 venture colleges would be taken up in BTR in the first phase for provincialisation," a statement from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said. The Higher Education Department will check the status of the colleges, infrastructure, qualification of existing faculty, need for fresh recruitment and take appropriate action in this regard, it added.

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"Decision was also taken in the meeting for creating adequate Bodo language teacher posts in schools in Bodo areas as per NEP 2020. Single cadre post creation will be done in all government and provincialised colleges," the CMO statement said.

Sarma said that a campus of the Bodoland University will be set up at Udalguri along with science and law colleges in the BTR, while a decision was taken for holding a special Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) for Bodo medium.

The chief minister further directed to form an advisory committee with the representatives of WPTBC Department, Education Department, ABSU and BSS to supervise proper implementation of the decisions taken during the meeting.

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"A similar meeting will be held within six months for reviewing the status," the statement said. In the meeting, Sarma announced to offer Rs 5 lakh as ex-gratia to Malobika Daimary, who was injured in a firing by Forest Department personnel at Boko in Kamrup district recently, while directing the GMCH authorities to provide best treatment to her.