Assam government to stop hiring teachers in colleges with low student enrolment

GUWAHATI : The Assam government is planning to stop teachers' recruitment in colleges and merge those or certain departments of such institutions, where student enrolment is less, Education Minister Ranoj Pegu said. The government is mulling the step of merging the institutions of higher education in line with the existing policy of amalgamation of schools where student enrolment is scanty, he said.

In a post on X, Pegu said the Higher Education Department conducted a meeting with the principals and the governing body presidents of 79 colleges having less than 500 enrolments on Saturday evening. "...discussed possible roadmap to enhance enrolment... Enhancing gross enrolment ratio (GER) in higher education is a priority of the government," he said.

Accordingly, the minister has directed the higher education department to draft a policy for the merger of colleges or departments having lower numbers of students, similar to the one by the school education department. The government is "aiming at merging colleges or departments having low enrolment and to stop recruiting teachers against vacancies in dept (department) with low enrolment".

The Assam government has closed down thousands of schools in the last few years through the amalgamation process. The education department through the amalgamation process merges one school with another for various reasons such as less number of students, poor infrastructure, lower pupil-teacher ratio and higher operational cost.