GUWAHATI, Sept 30: Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal today presented the Anundoram Borooah Award-2020 to students who secured 75 per cent or above in this year�s HSLC examination at a programme held at the Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakshetra. As part of the award, an amount of Rs 20,000 each was directly transferred to the bank accounts of 16,944 students for purchasing laptops. A sum of Rs 34 crore has been released by the government for the purpose.
The Chief Minister transferred the amounts by pressing a button. On the other hand, the award was presented ceremonially to five students in the Kalakshetra premises. Urging the students to follow the ideals of Anundoram Borooah and strive towards excellence in their chosen fields, the Chief Minister said the growth and development of each student in Assam ultimately contribute to the overall progress of the State.
�To achieve success in life, young students must strive to acquire knowledge, which is power in this age of globalisation. Even fertile lands must be tilled for optimising agricultural production, and therefore, youths must channelise their energy to achieve their targets. The successful students in the HSLC must consistently endeavour to achieve excellence in the future as well,� the Chief Minister added.
Sonowal said the steps like setting up of eight medical colleges, nine engineering colleges, 32 polytechnics, Sri Sri Aniruddha Deb Sports University, Cultural University at Majuli, Sri Sri Bhattadeb and Madhabdeb Universities, etc., have been taken by the State government to develop the education sector, apart from taking steps for facilitating education for poor students.
Speaking on the occasion, Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that Anundoram Borooah Awards, which was started in 2005, have benefited a total 3,73,855 students till now and it has become one of the flagship schemes of the government.
After receiving feedback from the stakeholders, the State government would take a call on whether to transfer the award money directly to the students� bank accounts, or to reinstate the system of government procuring laptops and handing them over to the students.
Counting numerous steps taken by the State government to develop the education sector, Sarma highlighted the achievement of Assam in grabbing the fifth position in the country�s literacy rankings and the second position in taking education to the doorsteps of people.
He also said that the State�s students have shown better performance in national-level exams in recent years and Assam has become one of the top states in spending up to six per cent of its GDP for education and health sectors.
Principal Secretary of education department B Kalyan Chakrabarty, MLA Angoorlata Deka, Advisor to the Education Department Mihirkanti Choudhury, SEBA Chairman RC Jain, AHSEC Chairman Dr D Borgohain and others were present on the occasion.
