Noisy scenes, walk outs in Assam Assembly over introduction of English from Class 3 in vernacular schools

GUWAHATI: The Assam Assembly on Monday witnessed noisy scenes during a discussion on introduction of English as the medium of instruction for mathematics and science from class three in vernacular medium government schools. The matter was raised in the House by the Leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia and his deputy Rakibul Hussain who said that the decision to teach the two subjects in English from class three will negatively impact the students.

Saikia claimed that the decision was contradictory to the new National Education Policy (NEP), which emphasised on the mother tongue as medium of instruction for young children. He also claimed that the government is trying to hide its own lack of infrastructure through such decisions. Hussain maintained that the government expenditure in the education sector is increasing but enrollment of students in government schools is going down. Aminul Islam of AIUDF questioned the availability of qualified teachers for implementing the government decision. Independent MLA Akhil Gogoi raised questions on availability of infrastructure, qualified teachers and other issues.

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When Deputy Speaker Numal Momin, who was in the chair, asked Gogoi to conclude his speech as the end of the stipulated five minutes, the legislator demanded additional time and stormed into the well of the House. Momin then ordered suspension of Gogoi for five minutes and asked the marshals to evict him from the house. Noisy scenes broke out in the House during Education Minister Ranoj Pegu's reply when he mentioned that the decision on English as medium of instruction was in line with the NEP which focuses on 'multi-lingualism'.

Protesting against the government decision, Gogoi, who had returned to the House, once again stormed to the Well and staged a walk out as a mark of protest. Congress and CPI(M) followed suit claiming that the NEP mandated English as medium of instruction from class eight and not from class 3. AIUDF, which remained in the House, expressed it's displeasure at Pegu's remarks for classifying Assamese as a regional language and not giving it its due recognition as the main language in the state. AIUDF legislator Aminul Islam maintained that it was a matter of sorrow that Assamese is being classified as a regional language on the floor of the House. His party colleague Rafikul Islam added that if all ethnic linguistic groups identified themselves by their languages, only a handful of people will be left to call Assamese their mother tongue.

Pegu said that ethnic language will be used as medium from pre-primary level itself. The students will need to learn Assamese as the regional language along with Hindi and English, While the NEP mandates a three-language formula, it will have to be made into a four-language one in Assam, he said. Defending the government decision, Pegu said there was consensus on the need for English for higher studies. "Since everyone has agreed that knowledge of English is important then why not start early," he contended. Pegu maintained that there will be no additional burden on school students to learn more languages and the syllabus will be designed by experts in an "age-appropriate manner".